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Ward rounds are often undervalued, considering that they represent the patient and medical team interface. Ward rounds give us the opportunity to excel in our management plans in order to move the patient’s care forward. However ordinary ward rounds might be regarded, they involve highly complex decision making and require the utilisation of extremely skilful communication skills. Nonetheless, there are certain issues that are frequently experienced which impact the efficiency of the ward rounds with the potential to influence patient safety:  Common issues encountered during ward rounds Medical team Interruptions by the bleep/pager influencing the clinical examinations and decision making. Registrars being asked to leave the ward round if they are on -call to focus on other acute medical/ surgical duties. Consultants running late due to delays in clinic or in theatres and thereby starting the ward rounds late in the afternoon which will impact the time that is left for junior doctors to carry out post round jobs. Charge nurse and nurse at bedside not present to inform the medical team of issues that occurred overnight. Patients on outlier wards will usually be seen last on the ward round.  Patient notes Illegible handwriting in patient notes, loose documents in […]