Nursing Grand Rounds: Bringing Hospital Teams Together

Nursing Grand Rounds (NGR) provide a forum for nurses between our partner hospitals to share clinical expertise, nursing best practices and education on related topics to improve patient outcomes and enhance patient experiences, as well as building collaboration and respect across the continuum of care. An NGR is a presentation given by nurses who share nursing care and are focused on a particular case.

In a partnership with the North Idaho College School of Nursing, the Nurse Leaders Peer Group of the Northwest Hospital Alliance developed this successful strategy to improve communication, build relationships, gain knowledge, and improve patient care by hosting quarterly Nursing Grand Rounds.

Kathleen Barbera presents the featured patient flow of care while in the ICU at Kootenai Health.
The format includes the case study of a patient who presented at one of the partner critical access hospitals and was then transported to Kootenai Health for specialty care that was needed.

The first Grand Rounds, held last December, featured a patient with a traumatic brain injury. The most recent Grand Rounds held on March 22, featured a patient with a ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction (STEMI). Each NGR had more than 50 participants with videoconferencing used to bring partner hospital teams together.

Presenting a case study of a particular patient enables nurses to systematically examine a specific patient’s episode of care, review the pathophysiology, evaluate the nursing care provided and relate “doing of nursing care” to evidence and science.

“While the intention was to use this as a nursing education opportunity, we have found that inclusion of the EMT’s, air or ground transport teams, and others associated with the care of the patient may lead to a bigger learning opportunity, especially as it ties to Idaho working toward it’s Time Sensitive Emergency (TSE) structure.” According to Chris Way, Chief of Kootenai County EMS and Region 1 chair of the TSE Initiative, “If we all work together and learn from each case, we may be able cut precious time from the continuum of care for the patient.”

Regularly scheduled educational opportunities are associated with increased professionalism and improved outcomes for patients.

“Given the success of our current NGR’s, we plan to continue the conference style education opportunity on a quarterly basis,” said Tari Yourzek, Boundary Community Hospital Chief Nursing Officer. “They will occur in March, June, September and December. Participation of bedside nurses is encouraged in an effort to mentor and support professional development.”