How Carilion Clinic reimagined rounding and reduced complaints by 70%

The challenge

Carilion Clinic’s rounding process needed a reset. Now, Carilion Clinic is reimagining patient rounding with CipherRounds. Scripts were clunky. Nurse leader rounds and device rounds were combined into one. Making script changes was nearly impossible because no one “owned” the process. And when rounds did happen, they didn’t always feel as meaningful as they could. And sometimes it felt more like a checklist than a connection. Carilion Clinic reimagining patient rounding with CipherRounds has become a game changer.

The data wasn’t much better: 500+ reports, scattered everywhere, with little consistency or insight. Now, with the updated process within Carilion Clinic’s reimagining patient rounding via CipherRounds, they are using it effectively.

The team’s goal was clear: make rounding part of daily practice, not a box-checking exercise.

The journey

Step 1: Fix the foundation
In January 2023, leadership turned to Sybil Calhoun, MSN, BSN, RN, Nurse Quality Managing Director, to lead the CipherHealth Script Project. The goal was clear: reimagining patient rounding with CipherRounds to strengthen patient advocacy and ensure consistent, high-quality care by overhauling rounding practices, streamlining scripts, and rebuilding reporting and dashboards so leaders could actually use the data.

Within a few months, Sybil pulled together a steering committee and got to work:

• Split nurse leader rounds and device rounds into separate scripts
• Rebuilt and refined scripts with input from frontline teams
• Consolidated 500+ reports into a simple approach tied to quality and safety goals
• Packaged resources so leaders could easily adopt the new scripts

Over the next year, Carilion Clinic continued the evolution by adding scripts for various departments as they reimagined patient rounding using CipherRounds. These new scripts were aligned to strategic priorities around patient experience and quality. By 2024, rounds were happening consistently, reporting was streamlined, and leaders had both the tools and actionable data they could rely on.

Step 2: Reimagine the experience
Then came the mindset shift. Brandon Jones, Director Patient Experience, led the charge to make rounding more consistent, purposeful and effective. He started off by asking care teams a simple but powerful question: why do nurse leader rounds?

The answer became their anchor: to create intentional, purposeful conversations that build trust, strengthen safety, and elevate the patient experience.

With that clarity, the language and the culture shifted:

• “Rounds” became “Visits.” No longer a task, but a connection.
• “Scripts” became “Guides.” Not something to read word-for-word, but a framework to guide real conversations.

Guides were then redesigned into three phases of care:

Admission → set expectations and surface prior experiences

• Completed by ‘the’ Unit Leader

Treatment → verify expectations are being met

• Completed by ‘a’ Unit Leader

Discharge → close the loop with “last chance” conversations and ensure no patient leaves with unresolved concerns

• Completed by ‘the’ Unit Leader

Lastly, Brandon’s team introduced simulation-based training that focused on communication and empathy. Built on real scenarios sourced from the leaders themselves, these sessions helped leaders practice meaningful conversations and strengthen connections with patients and families.

It wasn’t just about documenting the work. Leaders were connecting with patients in real time and it showed.

Results

This transformation delivered measurable change:

And when patients receive a leader visit, scores for quality, safety, and likelihood to recommend all improve.

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By addressing issues in the moment, Carilion shifted from service recovery to trust recovery.

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500+ reports shrank into 118 reports and one consolidated dashboard, tailored by role, delivering real-time insights to the right people.

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The takeaway

Carilion Clinic’s two-year journey shows what happens when you rethink rounding processes to align with the end goals in mind. The Clinic is notably reimagining patient rounding by implementing CipherRounds effectively, resulting in strong quality outcomes and meaningful connections with patients and high-quality service recovery. With a clear why, a new language, and the right tools, Carilion transformed a checklist exercise into a culture shift through reimagining patient rounding with CipherRounds.

The result: more meaningful connections, fewer complaints, and stronger trust at every step of the patient journey.