Schwartz Center Rounds®
Ways to Gain Support from Senior Management

A letter of support from senior management is required as part of the contract each hospital signs before starting the Rounds. Evidence of this support is required on a yearly basis after that.

• Before starting Rounds at your site, educate senior management about the purpose and benefits of the Rounds. To do this, you can use the comprehensive, quantitative and qualitative evaluation of the Rounds conducted by Goodman Research Group that shows the many benefits of the Rounds. A summary of that evaluation is on our website and a copy of the full evaluation report is available by contacting us. The Center has also created a power point presentation that you can use or adapt which highlights the purpose and benefits of the Rounds.

• Invite senior management and Board members to attend Rounds and see the process first-hand.

• Planning committee could invite a “date of the month,” e.g., bring a different member of senior management to each Rounds. Clinicians and staff appreciate that management is paying attention to the struggles they face every day.

• Engage senior management by developing topics related to the institution’s strategic plan or topics they care about. For example, if improving communication around end of life issues is a goal of the administration hold a Rounds involving this topic.

• Focus on quality improvement and patient safety when you talk about Rounds, always of interest to management. Tell management that Joint Commission Resources includes Rounds in its toolkit for meeting patient safety goals.

• Invite a member of senior management to the planning committee meetings and/or put him/her on the panel of presenters at a Rounds.

• For teaching hospitals, emphasize that the Rounds fulfill the ACGME core competency requirements on communication and are a valuable learning opportunity for residents and fellows. Some hospitals use Rounds to recruit residents.

• Show senior management the list of Rounds sites.