CHEO toolkit helps other health organizations set up virtual rounds

CHEO’s new Virtual Family-Centred Rounds Toolkit collects lessons learned from our work when, in the spring of 2020, we quickly pivoted from in-person to virtual family-centred rounds. Now CHEO is sharing this expertise with health-care organizations.

For decades, family-centred rounds has involved a multidisciplinary group of health-care providers (physicians, nurses, pharmacists, learners and others) moving in a group from patient to patient to discuss, inform and collaborate on care plans.

“With the arrival of COVID-19, minimizing in-person contact and encouraging physical distancing became essential,” said Dr. Melanie Buba, CHEO Pediatrician and Co-Principal Investigator of the virtual family-centred rounds evaluation study. “But we were determined to find a way to maintain family-centred care, which is so critical for high quality care. So, we quickly developed and launched virtual family-centred rounds across Inpatient Medicine at CHEO in April 2020.”

Since then, CHEO’s innovative model of virtual family-centred rounds has continued to have positive impacts for patients, families and providers alike.

“We’ve heard from some children and youth that the virtual format actually makes it easier for them to participate in rounds,” said Dr. Buba. “Meeting virtually can be less intimidating and overwhelming than in-person, where everyone would be gathering at their bedside. Others commented that they preferred virtual to in-person rounds and that we should do rounds virtually all the time.”

Once established, the team also set out to understand how this new approach to rounds was working and to improve it along the way.

“We soon realized that the work we were doing here at CHEO to implement and evaluate virtual family-centred rounds could help other organizations,” said Catherine Dulude, Human Factors Specialist at CHEO and Co-Principal Investigator of the virtual family-centred rounds evaluation study. “We were fielding questions and consulting with partners who wanted to bring this to their own organizations, so we knew that developing a toolkit could help our expertise reach an audience much wider than our own networks.”

Dr. Melanie Buba and Catherine Dulude received funding from the Children’s Hospital Academic Medical Organization (CHAMO), Innovation Fund 2021-2022 to evaluate virtual family-centred rounds and compile CHEO’s knowledge and lessons learned so they could equip health-care leaders around the globe with the tools and information needed to start virtual family-centred rounds at their own organizations.

CHEO’s Virtual Family-Centred Rounds Toolkit includes:

• informational videos for families
• training materials for health-care providers
• step-by-step instructions and details on the roles and responsibilities of each member of the multidisciplinary care team before, during and after virtual rounds
• Learn more from CHEO about virtual family-centred rounds and visit our toolkit

Testimonials

“Really well done, easy to navigate and clear. Congratulations to your team ! “

— Marie-Joelle Doré-Bergeron, Professeur adjoint de clinique
Pédiatrie générale, Département de pédiatrie, CHU Sainte-Justine

“Wow incredible work … really well organized and laid out. Congratulations on your work!”

CTU Director, Division of General Pediatrics
McMaster Children’s Hospital