Table 1.
Characteristics of studies included in the review
| First author (year) | Intervention | Study design (R/P) | Country | Study period | Surgical specialty | No. and designation of medical staff | Sample size (pre-, post-intervention) | Conflicts of interest |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abbas (2016) | ‘Surgeon of the week’ rounding system | Cohort study (R) | USA | July–December 2012 (pre-intervention); July–December 2013 (post-intervention) | Paediatric Surgery | Paediatric surgical consultants (n = 15) | 2356, 2837 | None |
| Al-Mahrouqi (2013) | Post-acute ward round proforma/checklist | Cohort study (R) | NZ | May 2012 (pre-intervention); November 2012 (post-intervention) | General Surgery | General surgical consultants (n = 5 or 6), with a varied number of registrars and junior house surgeons | 108, 103 | None |
| Alamri (2016) | Ward round checklist/proforma | Cohort study (R) | NZ | July 2015 | General Surgery | General surgical consultants (unspecified number) and other junior staff (registrars and house surgeons; unspecified number) | N/A, 103 | NS |
| Alazzawi (2016) | Ward round checklist/proforma | Cohort study (R) | UK | January–June 2015 | Trauma and Orthopaedics | Trauma and orthopaedic registrars (n = 2) | 20, 20 | NS |
| Armas (2021) | Active/scheduled breaks during ward rounds | Cohort study (P) | USA | October–December 2019 | Surgical ICU* | Consultant (n = 1), fellow (n = 1), residents (n = 2), interns (n = 1 to 2), nurse (n = 1), physician assistant (n = 1), medical students (n = 1 to 4) | N/A, 30 | None |
| Aydogdu (2019) | Additional telerounding on patients following surgery | RCT (P) | Turkey | Not stated | Urology | Urology consultant (n = 1) | 40, 40 | NS |
| Baker (1986) | Presence of a radiologist during ward rounds | Cohort study (R) | USA | March 1983–June 1984 | General Surgery | Consultant radiologist (n = 1), supervising general surgical consultant (n = 1), surgical registrars, house officers and medical students (unspecified numbers) | 721, 765 | NS |
| Banfield (2018) | Post-acute ward round proforma/checklist | Cohort study (R) | UK | April 2014 (pre-intervention); June 2014, April 2015, and February 2017 (post-intervention) | General Surgery | General surgical consultant (n = 2), house surgeons (unspecified number), and senior SAU nurse (n = 1) | 31, 97 | Senior author (SKR) also co-authored a study which included the Royal United Hospital Foundation NHS (study centre) as one of the participating centres in the Emergency Laparotomy Pathway Quality Improvement Care Study |
| Blucher (2014) | Ward safety proforma/checklist | Cohort study (R) | Australia | NS | General Surgery | Junior surgical staff (number and designation not specified) | 49, 51 | NS |
| Brown (2019) | Surgical communication check sheet/proforma | Cohort study (P) | UK | October 2016–April 2017 | Trauma and Orthopaedics | Consultant surgeon (n = 1), orthopaedic research fellow (n = 1), FY-2 junior doctor (n = 1), medical students (n = 2) | 170, 111 | Senior author is a paid consultant for Stryker (R + D and Education), as well as an educational consultant for Smith and Nephew (London, UK) and Orthofox (Texas, USA) |
| Byrnes (2009) | Ward round checklist/proforma | Cohort study (R) | USA | June 2006–May 2007 | Surgical ICU ? | SICU consultant, fellow, house surgeons, nurses, pharmacist (n = 1), and dietitian (n = 1) | 583, 671 | None |
| Chaudary (2022) | Digital/electronic patient records | Cohort study (R) | UK | February–August 2021 | Trauma and Orthopaedics | Consultants (n = 5), registrars (n = 4), senior house surgeons (n = 13), nurses (n = 14), and clinical support workers (n = 4) | 44, 44 | None |
| Crowson (2016) | Mobile tablet use during ward rounds | Cohort study (P) | USA | NS | Otorhinolaryngology | Registrars or house surgeons (PGY1 to 5; n = 13) | 13, 13 | None |
| Dhillon (2011) | Ward round checklist | Cohort study (P) | Ireland | NS | General Surgery, Vascular Surgery, Plastic Surgery, Neurosurgery | Consultants (n = 5) | 53, 34 | NS |
| Dolan (2016) | Post-take ward round checklist/proforma | Cohort study (P) | UK | NS | NS | Consultants (number not specified) | 50, 47 | None |
| Duxbury (2013) | Post-take ward round checklist/proforma | Cohort study (P) | Unclear | NS | Trauma and Orthopaedics | Consultants, registrars, and junior house surgeons (unspecified number) | 50, 50 | None |
| Gilliland (2018) | Ward round template/checklist | Cohort study (R) | UK | NS | Urology | Rounding team (number and designation not specified) | Unspecified, 45 | None |
| Koumoullis (2020) | Surgical Tool for the Assessment of Rounds (STAR) checklist/proforma | Cohort study (R) | UK | September–December 2017 | Plastic Surgery | Rounding team including junior house surgeons (number and designation not specified) | 42, 103 | None |
| Krishnamohan (2019) | Ward round checklist | Cohort study (P) | UK | April 2015–August 2016 | Urology and Vascular Surgery | Rounding team (number and designation not specified) | 72, 61 | None |
| Ng (2018) | Ward round sticker/checklist | Cohort study (R) | UK | December 2016–March 2017 | General Surgery | Senior general surgical registrar (n = 1), senior house surgeons (n = 2), FY-1 junior doctor (n = 2) | 109, 147 | None |
| Pitcher (2016) | Ward round checklist | Cohort study (R) | Australia | NS | General Surgery | Consultant (n = 1), registrars (n = 6), house surgeons (n = 3) | 132, 182 | NS |
| Pucher (2014) | Ward round checklist | RCT (P) | UK | NS | General Surgery | General surgical registrars (n = 20), junior house surgeon (n = 1), nurse (n = 1), medical actors [as patients] (n = 3) | 10, 10 | None |
| Read (2021) | Ward round checklist | RCT (P) | NZ | NS | NS | Consultants (unspecified number) | 68, 56 | None |
| Shaughnessy (2015) | Ward round checklist | Cohort study (P) | UK | NS | Cardiothoracic Surgery | Anaesthetists (n = 9), rounding team (designation and number not specified), bedside nurses (number not specified) | 162, 83 | NS |
| Talia (2017) | Ward round checklist | Cohort study (P) | Australia | NS | Orthopaedics | Junior house surgeons (n = 4) | 132, 68 | None |
| Tranter-Entwistle (2020) | Ward round checklist | Cohort study (P) | NZ | NS | Vascular Surgery | Rounding team consisting of: house officer, clinical nurse specialist, registrars, SMO, physiotherapist, dietitian, social worker, occupational therapist, and attending nurse (numbers not specified), as well as a final year medical student (n = 1) | 60, 173 | None |
| Yorkgitis (2018) | Laboratory tests and chest X-ray imaging section on daily ICU checklist | Cohort study (R) | USA | July–October 2015 (pre-intervention); October 2015–January 2016 (post-intervention) | Surgical ICU ?? | Surgical ICU staff, including: anaesthetists, ED clinicians, surgical residents, and surgical critical care fellows (number not specified) | 155, 152 | None |
| Vukanic (2021) | Ward round proforma | Cohort study (R) | Ireland | November 2017 −March 2018 | Orthopaedics | Rounding team consisting of an SMO (n = 1) and junior staff (not further specified) | 30, 30 | None |
ICU, intensive care unit; NHS, National Health Service; NS, not stated; NZ, New Zealand; P, prospective; R, retrospective; RCT, randomised controlled trial; UK, United Kingdom; USA, United States of America; SMO, senior medical officer; ED, emergency department
* Inclusive of general surgical and patients from other surgical subspecialties (not further specified) who were managed in the surgical ICU
? Inclusive of trauma and general surgical patients who were managed in the surgical ICU
?? Includes general surgical, trauma, and burns patients managed in a surgical ICU