Benefits and Barriers of ICU Daily Round; Perspective of Intensivists: Cross-Sectional Study

Daily ICU round has become the standard of care in the intensive care unit. It has varying structures and designs across ICUs world-wide. Aim: Cross-sectional study to explore the perspective of ICU physicians regarding the daily round. Method: Online survey including questions in four domains, namely, physicians’ gain, patients’ gain, barriers to the round, and suggestions for improvement. Results: Perceived physicians’ gains in order were: role clarity (73%), newly obtained knowledge (61%), medico-legal protection (45%), and communication with other disciplines (30%). As for patients’ gain, the perceived benefits were: making intervention decisions (97%), objectives of management (81%), better patients’ outcomes (55%), and a tool to respond to patients’ conditions (15%). Barriers to the round were lack of standardization and input from other disciplines, long duration and interruptions. The physicians suggested a standardized structured tool for the round as a method of improvement. Conclusion: ICU physicians’ main perceived personal gain from the daily ICU round is a formulated plan of management, for patients’ gain is decision making, as a barrier is the lack of standardization, and suggest its standardization for improvement. Key words: ICU physicians, ICU daily round, Intensivists, intensive care unit