Abstract WP091: Join The Team: Bedside RN participation in Stroke Team Rounding

Introduction: In a 12-hour shift, a bedside RN oversees and coordinates the patient’s plan of care, communicating critical information to patients, families and the multidisciplinary team. A literature review found the presence and participation of the bedside RN during multidisciplinary rounds decreases the “silo effect” that occurs in healthcare, leading to communication errors. The Stroke Team and medical-surgical unit leadership collaborated to eliminate this silo by including the bedside RN in daily stroke team rounds. Methods: A plan was created to include the bedside RN in stroke team rounds to promote readiness/preparedness delivering optimal stroke care. A quality improvement project was implemented on a medical-surgical unit by an interprofessional team, including nursing professional development practitioner, Stroke nurse, Neuro nurses, and Stroke Team MD’s. The goal of the project was to increase staff’s: 1) familiarity with stroke rounding by 10%; 2) comfort in participating in rounds; and 3) readiness/preparedness to provide quality stroke care after rounding with the Stroke Team by 5% of baseline, measured using Redcap survey by June 30, 2025. Redcap pre/post-survey conducted, January - June 2025, after in-servicing by Stroke Champions, measured improvements in staff’s familiarity, comfort with Stroke Rounding, and readiness to provide optimal stroke care; data analyzed utilizing descriptive statistics. Results: The goal to increase staff familiarity with Stroke Rounding was met, by greater than 10% increase in scores: 8.9% in April, 13.7% in May, and 15% in June. Goal to increase staff comfort was met, by a greater than 5% increase in scores: 4.1% in April, 12.8% in May, and 7.27% in June. Readiness to care for stroke patients after rounding improved by 2.4%, this goal was not achieved. Conclusion: The bedside RN's presence during stroke team rounds was found to be critical for accurate dissemination of information. The project revealed nurses felt empowered to ask questions, seeking clarification in a supportive environment. This strengthened nurse familiarity and comfort with stroke rounds. While preparedness to deliver quality stroke care improved, the goal was not achieved related to a knowledge deficit among newly graduated nurses. The neuroscience course was revised addressing this deficit, benefitting all nurses. Future plans include continued stroke rounding to sustain nurses’ competency and confidence in excellent stroke care.