The Ideal Ward Round

The Ideal Ward Round is a participatory action research (PAR) project in the field of health research. PAR is defined as researchers and participants working together to examine a problematic situation or action to change it for the better (Wadsworth, 1998). The key project aims were:

to establish the views of patients, carers and professionals on the role, experience of and ways of improving ward rounds in the context of acute adult in-patient mental health services within one NHS Trust in England, and
to develop suitable recommendations that would lead to improvement in ward round functionality and experience for all parties, particularly patients

Previous research has illustrated negative experiences of ward rounds in mental health services (namely patient experience), however has not sought to clarify how improvements to ward rounds could be made.

The research involved surveying almost 100 respondents including current in-patients as well as people who had used these services within the previous 12 months. Professionals included health care assistants, nurses, occupational therapists, psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers working within the services. Responses suggested that improvements were needed in regard to the practical arrangements for and ownership and management of ward rounds as well as the involvement of patients and carers in the meeting itself and clinical decision-making.

The project defined twelve recommendations in order to establish the ‘Ideal Ward Round’ based upon the survey responses and focus groups that were tasked with recommending improvements to the ward round experience, informed by survey respondent data.

Ideal Ward Round: Inpatient Reviews on Adult Mental Health Wards

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Shared Decision Making in Mental Health Practice

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Critical Values Based Practice Network

The Ideal Ward Round