Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / How Healthcare Organizations Can Elevate Rounding From a Routine Task to a Strategic Driver of Patient Loyalty, Experience, & Care Outcomes

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How Healthcare Organizations Can Elevate Rounding From a Routine Task to a Strategic Driver of Patient Loyalty, Experience, & Care Outcomes · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

• 0:00
  Hi, everyone. This is Brian Zimmerman with Becker's
• 0:02
  Healthcare. Thank you so much for tuning into
• 0:04
  the Becker's Healthcare podcast.
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  Today, we're going to talk about how healthcare
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  organizations
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  can elevate rounding from a routine task to
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  a strategic driver of patient loyalty, experience, and
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  care outcomes.
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  Joining me for today's discussion
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  is Katie Hafeli,
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  director of product NRC Health, and Ashley Nelson,
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  strategic advisor nursing NRC Health. Katie and Ashley,
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  thank you so much for coming on the
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  podcast.
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  Thanks for having us, Brian. Thanks for having
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  us.
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  Great. So let let's dive in and learn
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  a bit more about each of you, your
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  professional journeys and the work you're doing at
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  NRC Health. Katie, let let's hear from you
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  first.
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  Yeah. Hi, Brian. Thanks, for having us on
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  the podcast today. My name is Katie Hafeli.
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  I'm director of product and strategy
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  here at NRC Health.
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  And, prior to,
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  NRC Health, I had founded Noble Health, the
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  rounding platform that NRC had acquired a few
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  years ago. So I've been living and breathing
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  where everything rounding
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  and rounding technology for well over a decade.
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  So, excited to be on here today. Thanks
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  for having us. Yeah. Excited to to dive
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  into that rounding expertise you've got, Katie. So,
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  we'll get into that shortly. Ashley, go ahead
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  and intro yourself and and share a bit
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  about the work you're doing. Yes. Absolutely. Ashley
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  Nelson, strategic adviser of nursing
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  with NRC Health. I've been a nurse for
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  nineteen years now.
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  Never
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  intended on leaving the bedside.
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  Absolutely love taking care of patients and families,
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  but found a real passion for nurse education
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  and then
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  experience work. And I feel like I'm living
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  the dream as that strategic advisor role as
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  I really work to partner
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  with our clients on elevating the care experience
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  and celebrating also what's going well. Rounding has
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  been a core best practice,
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  whether I was a nurse at the bedside,
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  that nurse educator or leading experience.
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  It was something that was very important to
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  how I showed up as a leader and
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  also how I experienced
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  the team
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  dynamic and the employee experience when when leaders
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  rounded on me. So excited to have the
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  conversation today and talk more about what NRC
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  is doing to support this important work. Yeah.
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  And, Ashley, great to have that sort of
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  that frontline perspective merge with that strategic high
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  level overview too. So pairing that together will
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  be nice for for today's conversation.
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  Let's start here. I I I wanna get
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  to sort of some of the takeaways from
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  NRC Health's new insight report, which is these
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  are correct me if I'm wrong, but reports
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  that are are are generated from from some
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  data that NRC health has and the expertise
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  that you all have. So from from your
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  vantage point, what, I guess, are the most
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  important takeaways from the the new reports on
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  on rounding and patient loyalty? Katie, you want
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  you wanna grab this one?
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  Yeah. Absolutely.
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  Well,
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  I mean, I think the first kinda key
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  takeaway is that, it really reaffirms
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  what many of us already believe in that
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  rounding works.
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  Our research shows that there's a 20 difference
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  in top box likelihood to recommend scores between
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  patients who were rounded on versus those that
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  weren't rounded on. And, you know, in patient
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  experience, a 20 gap is really significant, and
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  so I think this represents a meaningful increase
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  in the number of patients who become strong
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  promoters,
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  those that that get rounded on. I mean,
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  we even saw one organization have a 43
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  gap, which is huge. Right?
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  But I think what is most interesting
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  is that while rounding absolutely improves
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  environmental
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  and operational aspects of care,
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  what we found was really the biggest impact
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  on loyalty actually comes from what happens during
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  that interaction
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  itself. It's not just that someone showed up.
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  It's how they showed up.
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  Love that how they showed up. Can can
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  you share just a little bit more about
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  that before I and I've got another question
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  too because it it proves to be effective
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  across so many more domains of care. But,
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  Katie, can you share a little bit of
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  details about what you mean in terms of
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  how they showed
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  up? Yeah. There's so many,
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  things that I and I could probably talk
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  for hours
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  about this,
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  you know, but there's so many interpersonal
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  things that that go far during rounding,
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  that are connected to trust,
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  connected to communication,
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  how we show up. Right? How do we
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  build that relationship with the patient? Did they
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  feel heard? Did they feel seen? Were they
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  able to speak their voice?
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  Those are the little things that are really
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  adding up to help drive loyalty,
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  how we're engaging with that patient.
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  Yeah. There's really human elements of interaction can
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  go a long way.
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  So but let's get to sort of here
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  that the the research really sort of indicates
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  that roundings
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  impact or can be successful
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  in multiple different areas, multiple different domains of
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  care.
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  Why is this, Katie? Why is it so
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  effective across these many different domains of care?
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  Yeah. So what we're seeing is that
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  and kinda what I say is that rounding
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  acts as like a connector
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  across the experience. So on one hand, it
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  surfaces and resolves real time issues,
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  things like
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  cleanliness, noise, responsiveness.
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  I also sometimes refer to those as, like,
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  creature comforts, things that we're used to, things
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  being a certain way at our home environment.
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  So we have really high expectations of those
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  even in a health care setting.
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  But at the same time, it creates space
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  for meaningful human interaction. So patients feel heard.
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  They feel acknowledged,
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  and that builds trust. And so, really, we're
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  doing two things at one time when we're
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  rounding.
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  It's improving operations. It's improving those quick wins.
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  It's strengthening relationships, and then together,
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  that's really what's driving broad impact across many
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  domains.
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  Katie, if I can if I can even
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  jump in there with with what you shared,
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  when we think about
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  that human connection piece and the impact that
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  we have in that space,
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  so many things clinically
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  are check the box, administer the med check,
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  do an assessment check. When we really think
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  about that leader going into the room and
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  connecting with that patient or family or that
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  nurse being intentional in their rounding efforts,
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  I think about seeing the person in the
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  bed as more than just the diagnosis,
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  but really what matters to them. And and
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  to your point of listening, hearing them, I
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  think that it just provides that opportunity for
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  care to feel
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  a lot more human when they know that
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  there's leaders and people that care deeply about
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  the experience they are having within the care
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  setting.
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  Yeah. Ashley, let's let's let's stay here for
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  for a moment longer. I'd love to hear
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  more from you on this in terms of
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  really zeroing in on the from that frontline
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  perspective, that nursing perspective, and from the patient
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  experience side of things.
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  And I think some of Katie's comments certainly
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  get at this, but would love to get
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  your take in turn, terms of how does
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  rounding change what happens during a patient visit?
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  Thinking operationally here,
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  both in from the relationship and the patient
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  experience side of things, What changes
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  in a patient's visit once someone shows up
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  in rounds shows up the right way during
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  rounds?
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  Yeah. Well, we have a lot of really
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  great intentions in health care. We have a
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  lot of things that we put into play
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  and strategies that we have at a high
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  level to say, yes. We are in fact
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  committed to the outside shift report or we
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  are in fact committed to making sure that
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  the care experience is is the best it
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  can be. It's really powerful though to go
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  to the Gemba to put leaders and clinicians
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  in the space where the care is actually
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  happening,
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  really allowing them to see and hear and
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  address any
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  issues that could potentially
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  otherwise remain invisible.
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  I think that direct line of sight is
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  impactful because hearing from the patient
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  that, you know, the room is always too
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  cold, like I'm freezing in here, and the
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  leader to be able to act on that
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  quickly when they didn't bring that up to
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  anyone else or the fact that they don't
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  know what that next step includes.
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  They're worried about something that we haven't tended
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  to. It allows for a great opportunity for
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  that leader to, one, be able to answer
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  what they know, but, two, be able to
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  circle back with the staff to really say,
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  hey. The patient has some concerns. Can we
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  make sure that we're outlining the the plan
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  of care with them? That they know what
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  to expect, and we ease some of that
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  anxiety or or discomfort. So it really has
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  the opportunity
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  to, one, help the patient right there in
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  the moment, but, two, over time,
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  really identify any themes that we're hearing over
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  and over, and it helps that leader put
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  a road map in play to really elevate
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  that care experience for future patients based on
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  what they're gathering as they're in the room
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  talking to to patients and families.
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  Yeah. That's interesting to think about this as
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  sort of information gathering work as well,
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  and stuff that the more you round, the
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  more you learn, the better you can be.
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  Right? Mhmm. Well, and I give oftentimes when
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  I'm talking around with folks, I give the
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  restaurant analogy, and I, time and time again,
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  I I say, you know, I know that
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  health care is not a restaurant, and it
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  is so very different. But we've all been
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  at those restaurants where the the manager, the
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  leader has come around and said, how has
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  everything been? How was the service? How was
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  the food? You know, really showing their commitment
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  to the service being provided.
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  Now that restaurant has our food and the
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  ambiance and the experience in their hands, but
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  in health care, we have people's entire
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  life, their world in our hands. And so
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  that commitment of our leaders showing up to
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  hear how that's going, to validate the quality,
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  safety, and experience of care, to say
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  we prioritize this and value your feedback enough
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  that I'm putting time on my calendar to
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  hear directly from you and the team how
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  things are going, I think it really sets
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  the bar high as far as experience goes
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  and and as far as our commitment
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  to delivering on our promise.
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  Yeah. And and people to to extend the
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  analogy, Ashley, people don't love to have a
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  bad experience in a restaurant. They really don't
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  want a bad experience in the hospital. Right?
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  100%.
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  Yes. It's a whole another level, right, of
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  loyalty and trust
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  when your world is either in that bed
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  or you yourself are in that bed. So
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  I think, you know, one of the biggest
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  things we hear with rounding is there's not
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  time. And I I push back often and
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  say there's not time not to. If people
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  are truly our number one priority and people
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  being the patients and the teams, you know,
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  the patients we serve and the teams that
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  serve those patients,
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  we don't have time to not have time
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  to go there and understand the strengths and
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  understand the challenges our teams are facing and
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  and be able to continue to use that
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  information to connect the loyalty and trust, but
• 10:44
  also to elevate that care experience of tomorrow.
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  Katie, I wanna come back to you now
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  and thinking about this from sort of the,
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  the big picture in terms of what an
• 10:54
  organization does in terms of support the culture
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  rounding because
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  before you show you you mentioned earlier showing
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  up the right way, and that is more
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  of a cultural thing, right, than necessarily an
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  individual thing. I mean, it can be, but
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  you really wanna have it be a cultural
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  thing. So what distinguishes from from your point
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  of view an organization that has high impact
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  rounding versus
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  from one that is more like check the
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  box? Yeah. We saw that patient. We moved
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  on. Yeah. I think, you know, just thinking
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  about this, the biggest difference is probably gonna
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  be
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  intentionality.
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  So when I think about check the box
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  rounding, it's very task oriented.
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  You know, I've been in this industry long
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  enough. I've heard it called different things in
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  parts of the country, like howdy rounds.
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  I have some partners in Texas that call
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  those howdy rounds, drive by rounds. Right? Like,
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  so whatever you label it, those rounds are
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  just about completing the task,
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  asking the required questions and then moving on.
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  And, you know, patients can feel that. Right?
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  And so, like, high impact rounding on the
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  other hand is about connection.
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  The leaders are present. They're listening actively.
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  They're empowered to actually do something with what
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  they hear.
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  And then I think another big piece of
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  this too is follow through.
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  So if a patient raises a concern and
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  nothing happens,
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  rounding can actually backfire. Right? It's worse to
• 12:14
  have even asked if you don't do anything
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  with that concern.
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  But when organizations
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  close the loop consistently,
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  that's really where rounding becomes powerful. You can
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  turn that low experience into a peak experience.
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  True story here too. I I'll never forget.
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  I once had a CNO share with with
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  me that her husband was in the hospital,
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  and he had received a leader round, and
• 12:38
  she was at the bedside during this leader
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  round. And and this CNO's hospital uses our
• 12:43
  our platform, so we're pretty close. We we
• 12:45
  connect on a lot of different things. But
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  she confessed to me that she wasn't a
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  strong believer before this interaction
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  in requiring staff to bring the tablet into
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  the room
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  and and use it as a guide for
• 12:58
  that conversation and to document some of these
• 13:00
  things in front of the patient. But in
• 13:02
  reality,
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  what happened was when she was there with
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  her own husband,
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  her husband had some big concerns about the
• 13:10
  room cleanliness and how often it was getting
• 13:12
  tidied up.
• 13:13
  So she she said, so often we share
• 13:16
  our concerns with the person, and they leave
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  the room. You know, we're we're confined to
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  this room, and they leave, and we don't
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  know if they're gonna do anything with that
• 13:23
  concern.
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  But what completely changed her mind was that
• 13:27
  nurse leader said, I'm gonna take a note
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  and put this into my device right away
• 13:32
  and then send this off to the director
• 13:34
  of EBS.
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  They're gonna come speak with you directly. And
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  she said that in that moment, she had
• 13:40
  confidence that her concern was gonna be addressed.
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  And so I think that's another big difference
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  is,
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  building that confidence with our patients,
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  showing them that we are gonna close loop,
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  that we are gonna follow-up.
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  And and sometimes physically, that means, you know,
• 13:55
  putting that into something and sending it off
• 13:57
  to someone to to give them that confidence.
• 14:00
  Yeah. And doing it in real time ensures
• 14:02
  it gets done because, you know, assume positive
• 14:05
  intentions there. People can go in and really
• 14:07
  wanna do something, but people can get busy.
• 14:10
  Things can fall through the cracks.
• 14:12
  Katie, I appreciate that. I think throughout this
• 14:14
  conversation, we've really,
• 14:16
  elevated some stuff that that our listeners can
• 14:18
  go take and apply at their organization. But
• 14:21
  but, Ashley, I'll close with this question for
• 14:23
  you. For folks listening who really want to
• 14:26
  strengthen and evolve evolve their approach to rounding,
• 14:29
  where should they focus first to create meaningful,
• 14:32
  sustainable improvements? What advice would you give, Ashley?
• 14:35
  Yeah.
• 14:36
  You know, I think really elevating their commitment
• 14:39
  to this rounding practice
• 14:41
  and getting out there and doing it. It
• 14:43
  doesn't have to be perfect the first time
• 14:45
  you're out there. You don't have to have
• 14:46
  it all figured out, and you don't need
• 14:48
  to ask every single question in that order
• 14:51
  as a check box.
• 14:52
  It really is about seeing the human in
• 14:54
  front of you, listening intently to what they
• 14:57
  have to say, and then offering
• 15:00
  feedback or or a way to help. Right?
• 15:02
  Circling back, closing the loop to really
• 15:05
  make an impact. It's not just about completion.
• 15:08
  It's about how do you
• 15:10
  leave that person, that room, that situation better
• 15:14
  than you found it, and how do you
• 15:16
  show your commitment as a leader to saying
• 15:18
  we will
• 15:20
  celebrate what's going well in our area, and
• 15:22
  I'll recognize those team members that are doing
• 15:24
  a really great job because rounding also offers
• 15:26
  the opportunity for for leaders to hear what's
• 15:29
  going well. But, also, we're committed to any
• 15:31
  issues or or things, concerns that you bring
• 15:34
  forward to resolving those.
• 15:37
  Ashley, thank you. And and, Katie, let's hear
• 15:39
  some quick thoughts from you since, your colleague
• 15:41
  teed you up so nicely there.
• 15:43
  Yes. Thank you, Ashley, so much. Yeah. I
• 15:45
  always say you can,
• 15:47
  you can influence the patient experience in real
• 15:50
  time through rounding,
• 15:51
  but then on a broader scale, you can
• 15:54
  use all of that that data and that
• 15:56
  information to make long lasting sustainable improvements.
• 16:00
  One thing I would just encourage our listeners
• 16:03
  regarding this as as a key takeaway
• 16:06
  is to always be curious about your leader
• 16:08
  rounding approach.
• 16:09
  Day one, how you implement it, it doesn't
• 16:11
  have to stay that way.
• 16:13
  Evolution
• 16:14
  is progress when it comes to leader rounding.
• 16:17
  So always stay curious about how can you
• 16:19
  evolve it to fit the current needs of
• 16:22
  your organization.
• 16:23
  Modify how we're we're asking those questions, what
• 16:26
  the content of those questions are,
• 16:28
  what the shape of that round looks like.
• 16:30
  It doesn't have to stay the same. In
• 16:33
  fact, organizations that evolve it and tweak it
• 16:36
  are usually the most successful because they're always
• 16:38
  trying to fine tune exactly what that process
• 16:40
  looks like.
• 16:41
  Fine. Well, Katie, Ashley, it truly was a
• 16:43
  pleasure having this conversation with both of you.
• 16:45
  Thank you for coming on the podcast.
• 16:47
  Thank you. My pleasure. Thanks for having us.
• 16:49
  We also wanna thank our podcast sponsor, NRC
• 16:52
  Health. You can tune in to more podcasts
• 16:54
  from Becker's Healthcare by visiting our podcast page
• 16:57
  at beckershospitalreview.com.