Der Ophthalmologe : Zeitschrift der Deutschen Ophthalmologischen Gesellschaft
-
The daily ward round is the main opportunity for communicative interaction between physician and patient during a patient's hospital stay. We analysed to what extent the round was capable of fulfilling the patients' needs for information and emotional support, using the ophthalmologic ward of a university hospital as an example. ⋯ In the future, the ophthalmologic ward round should satisfy the criteria of patient-centric conversation. Therefore, the informational value of the daily ward round must be increased, and organisational and structural changes must be made to promote direct conversation between the patient and the eye specialist. A team conference before and after the physician-patient interaction would allow a focus on team-referred and patient-referred interests within the ward round.