gms | German Medical Science

Introduction: Despite their importance, ward rounds only attract little attention in medical education. As a consequence, medical students and junior physicians report difficulties in performing them properly [1], [2]. To overcome this lack, this study aims at identifying competencies and activities relevant for running a good ward round in internal medicine. In a second step, these competencies and activities are integrated into an Entrustable Professional Activity (EPA) [3] that can be used for teaching, and assessing individuals’ performance in both undergraduate and postgraduate medical education.

Methods: We conducted an interview study with N=26 experienced physicians and nurses working at our University Hospital and belonging Academic Teaching Hospitals. The sample accounts for the broad range of hospitals. Through content analysis of interviews, competencies and activities relevant for ward rounds could be mapped.

Results: Data analysis identified eight competencies as essential for performing ward rounds: communication with both patients and team, collaborative clinical reasoning, organizational competence, self-management, capacity for teamwork, problem solving, dealing with errors. Professionalism, empathy, patient management, clinical skills, teaching competence, technical knowledge and communication with relatives were also reported as necessary for conducting ward rounds. We could assign multiple activities to these competencies. Based on these results, we developed the EPA „Running a ward round in internal medicine“.

Discussion: Data provide a sophisticated overview of competencies and belonging activities relevant for conducting good ward rounds. The EPA will be implemented and validated within a ward round training at our faculty that strives for preparing medical students already at an early stage for this crucial task of their future daily routine.