Patient Care Boards - A tool to promote patient participation during hospital ward rounds.

Objective: This pre-post intervention study investigated the effectiveness of the Patient Care Board (PCB) as a tool to increase the participation of patients and relatives during hospital ward rounds.

Methods: Using The Activity Barometer (TAB), we rated 121 video-recorded rounds to compare participation before and after implementing the PCB into clinical practice. Associations between scores for the extent to which patients ask questions or express preferences and concerns were tested with multiple linear regression.

Results: TAB-scores tended to be higher after implementing the PCB, especially for the relatives. However, no significant differences were found. The greatest impact on participation was time spent on rounds (p < 0.001). Preparing questions in advance of the round, as well as using anatomical drawings for explanations, increased patient participation (p = 0.041, 0.024). Furthermore, the implementation of the PCB led to higher nurse attendance (p = 0.003).

Conclusion: Although we found tendencies towards higher participation, the study could not confirm a significant impact of the overall intervention.

Innovation: Our results suggest that further research is needed, to ensure a higher degree of preparation among the patients, better opportunities for relatives to participate as well as integration of visual information in the rounds.