Background
There is an increasing evidence that daily consultant ward rounds improve length of stay. As a result, there is pressure from administration to implement daily consultant ward rounds. The evidence is strong for acute medical units however there is limited evidence in medical specialities including medical oncology. We assessed the length of stay and rate of early discharges in 2 ward rounds models, a daily consultant ward round versus an intermittent ward round, during the same period of time.
Patients and Methods
Inpatients from Fiona Stanley Hospital from February 2015 to October 2015 were reviewed. Patients who were initially admitted to non-oncological units were excluded. 184 episodes of care were identified in the daily ward round team while 174 episodes of care were identified in the intermittent ward round team.
Results
The average length of stay was 7.2 days for the daily consultant ward round team and 7.8 days for the intermittent ward round team. There was a difference of 0.6 days which was not statistically significant (p=0.5479). Total amount of patients discharged before 12pm was 31 for the daily consultant ward round team and 32 from the intermittent ward round team which was not statistically significant(p=0.3187).
Conclusion
Daily consultant ward rounds did not impact length of stay or early discharges. Other processes may need to explored to improve efficiencies in inpatient medical oncology services.