Increasing patient recall of nurse leader rounding

Nursing staff in a medical/surgical acute care 34-bed hospital unit were challenged by low percentages of patients able to recall nurse leader rounding activity (NLR). NLR occurred daily for all patients, yet many did not recall visits by nursing leaders when surveyed at discharge. Care giver credibility suffered as non-nursing executives questioned if NLR consistently occurred. Several mechanisms were used to facilitate patient NLR recall: scripted NLR verbiage/keywords, nursing uniform leadership insignia and white lab coats, sharing of business cards, handwritten notes on patient communication white boards, multimedia leadership insignia on leader e-tablets, and visits with family members: patient NLR recall did not improve. Nurses designed low effort, active learning, spaced repetition exchanges using the hospital nurse call system in reverse to distinguish NLR from other care-related activity. A pilot study saw NLR recall climb from a baseline measurement of 37.5% (n = 88) to 88% (n = 93) following implementation. Mann-Whitney U confirmed significant findings (U = 2018.5, p < 0.001). Patient age and cognitive impairment were confirmed as confounding factors. Binary logistic regression analysis confirmed intervention effects exceeded confounding effects. Findings were consistent with subsequent patient survey results provided by a third party.