We know that purposeful rounding can improve patient experiences, strengthen trust, improve clinical outcomes, and create more opportunities for timely service recovery. But how does a hospital or health system actually operationalize it across busy units and competing priorities? And can nurse leaders realistically commit to rounding on the majority of their patients with the time they have?
In a recent webinar, From process to impact: Reimagining rounding for the next era of care, our experts addressed these questions and shared a four-step framework to improve rounding programs: Prepare, Personalize, Be Proactive, and Provide Loop Closure.
We’ll walk through each step and share specific, manageable actions nurse leaders can take to put purposeful rounding into practice in 2026.
Step 1: Prepare
Quality over quantity matters more than “checking the box” each round. Leaders should enter each room with intention and awareness, not blindly and without the information they need.
Here’s how to take action:
- Protected time: Rounding time should be respected time. Set aside at least 1 hour per day (M-F) for nurse leaders. Preserve this time specifically for rounds, avoiding any ad-hoc scheduling conflicts.
- Review first: Look at AI summaries, Care Notes, and any unresolved issues that may have taken place prior to the round. This gives patients confidence about continuity of care and creates trust that staff are communicating about their care outside the room.
- Situational awareness: Script completion should not be required each round. Instead, be visually aware of what’s occurring in the room and pivot to meet the needs of each patient in the moment.
Step 2: Personalize
Rounding should move from a transactional task to a meaningful interaction. The goal is an interactive exchange that adapts to the patient, rather than a scripted conversation.
Here’s how to take action:
- Be present: Introduce yourself as a leader, sit down with each patient, and make eye contact. Anticipate five to seven minutes per round.
- The Catalyst Question: An important question to ask patients is “What matters most to you today?” This question humanizes the interaction. It demonstrates empathy and shows the patient that leaders see them as a person, which significantly increases trust.
- Staff recognition: Ask patients, “Is there anyone we can recognize for you?”
Step 3: Proactive
Purposeful rounding requires clear goals and consistent behaviors. When expectations are hardwired, teams don’t wait for the call light to act.
Here’s how to take action:
- Visual sweep: Assess safety, lines, clutter, and comfort upon entry.
- Identify: Review and identify issues, opportunity areas, and staff recognition points to share.
- The Golden Hour: Resolve issues in less than one hour to maximize impact of patient experience and clinical outcomes.
Step 4: Provide loop closure
The voice of the patient should drive the plan of action. When feedback is acted on and their issues are addressed, patients see that their concerns matter.
Here’s how to take action:
- Real-time capture & documentation: Capture and document feedback immediately. Ambient listening will play an important role by reducing manual documentation and preserving the natural flow of conversation.
- Re-round: Return to opportunity areas within 24 hours to validate resolution as needed. There is a short window to react before patients are discharged from the hospital.
- Communicate: Ensure positive feedback reaches the care team. This is another way you can take care of staff, so they can take care of patients. Happy Staff = Happy Patients.
Is a 70% leader rounding goal realistic?
When leaders hear “one hour of protected rounding time daily,” the first reaction is often skepticism. A common response might be, “There’s no way that fits into my day.” Even more so, a goal of 70% leader rounding might not appear possible. But the math checks out.
Here’s the workload analysis for an average unit:
- Capacity: 32 beds
- Average daily census: ~29 patients
- Average length of stay: ~4.5 days
To achieve the 70% rounding goal, leaders need to round on six patients per day across a five-day workweek. At five to seven minutes per round, one hour of protected time is enough to meet the goal while still allowing for meaningful interaction and demonstrating trust recovery.
A cheat sheet for measuring success
Once leaders have assigned ownership, set clear goals, standardized workflows, and built data-driven accountability, the next question might be, “How do we know it’s working?”
These three measures provide a practical way to track progress without overcomplicating the program:
- Patient engagement: Measure how often leaders are having interactive rounds, not just observational ones. A common benchmark is reaching 70% of unique patients once per stay, signaling that leaders are consistently connecting with patients rather than checking boxes.
- Real-time trust recovery: Track how quickly patient concerns are addressed after they’re identified. High-performing programs aim to resolve 80% of patient issues within 60 minutes. This reinforces that patient feedback leads to timely action.
- Sustainable improvement: Look beyond daily activity to longer-term trends. Over six months, effective rounding programs often result in a 3–5% improvement in key experience measures, such as communication with nurses, responsiveness, and likelihood to recommend.
Bottom line: Purposeful rounding only works when people, process, and technology are aligned to support consistent actions and follow-through. CipherHealth helps bring these elements together by giving leaders the tools they need to prepare, personalize, act, and close the loop, all without adding complexity to their day.
To learn how we can support your rounding goals, check out how CipherRounds works, or reach out to us directly.
