Abstract:
Nursing care delivery models have an impact the patients’ satisfaction with care. The care environment includes care models, skill mix, and clinical leadership (Gardner, Woollett, Daly, & Richardson, 2009). Nursing Rounds have been identified as a way to increase patient satisfaction and reduce errors and falls. The purpose of this post-test, non-randomized parallel design study, is to determine the effect of hourly comfort patient rounds on patient satisfaction and safety, and the perceptions of the nurses’ practice environment. This is a replication of Gardner et al.’s study, based on the work of Castledine, Grainger, and Close (2005). The study will be conducted at a 300 bed hospital in northern Indiana on four medical-surgical units. The patient sample will include 80 patients. The nursing sample will include 40 nurses and 40 nursing assistants working on the units. The Patient Satisfaction Survey will measure patient satisfaction with comfort rounds. The Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index will measure nurses’ perceptions of the work environment. Patient rounding by nurses or nursing assistants will occur hourly. Results will provide information about the benefits of hourly comfort rounding on patient satisfaction and unit environment.
