Simulated Leadership Rounding with Executive DNP Students

Introduction
Leadership rounding is a systematic process where leaders are present conversing with staff and patients about the care provided, building leader presence and relationships with staff and patients. Simulation is rarely reported to support this skill development. This purpose of this project was to evaluate use of simulation to improve leadership rounding skills in DNP Executive students.
Theoretical Framework
The theoretical framework guiding this project was the executive presence framework.
An executive presence framework informed the simulated leader rounds content and was included in preparing materials prior to the simulation. The major areas used from this framework included: listening intently, asking questions, and displaying composure.

Project Description
Executive DNP learners participated in the simulation. Learners were prebriefed and informed the goals for their leadership rounds were to show staff support, develop trust, and learn about the work environment. Learners were assigned a COO or CNO role working in pairs to support the simulated healthcare team and patients with problems and concerns. The debriefing framework PEARLS was used after the simulation.
Results
This nurse leader rounding simulation is low cost, requires few resources, can be implemented in any nursing school, or healthcare facility, and receives high-value scores from participants. Learner evaluations were overwhelmingly positive.
Conclusion
Reliably implementing leader rounding is associated with improved patient experiences. If implemented in graduate nursing programs or within a healthcare system, this simulation can help create and maintain exceptional experiences for students, nursing staff, and patients.