Schwartz Center Rounds

Project Lead: Professor Jill Maben, Professor of Health Services Research and Nursing, University of Surrey

About the Project

Originating in the US, Schwartz Center Rounds® (Rounds) were developed to support health-care staff to deliver compassionate care by helping them to reflect on their work. During monthly group meetings, staff discuss the emotional, social and ethical challenges of care in a safe environment. The number of organisations hosting Rounds has increased markedly over recent years.

What we did

In our study we used a mix of methods to understand how Rounds work, including an evidence review to understand the unique features of Rounds; comparing them with 11 other similar interventions (e.g. action learning sets); a national telephone interview survey with 48 staff running Rounds in 46 organisations of how Rounds had been implemented; a case study evaluation investigating the perspectives of those telling their stories at Rounds (panellists) and audience members who listened and contributed and facilitators and some who didn’t attend to understand why not. We also observed preparation meetings, the Rounds themselves and steering group meetings to determine how rounds worked and in what circumstances they worked best.   .

What we found

• Our survey of 500 staff in 10 organisations found that psychological health improved in those attending Rounds but not in those who had not. Participants described Rounds as interesting, engaging and supportive.
• How Rounds were run varied in terms of the levels of trust and safety created; who attended Rounds, with frontline staff finding it difficult to attend;
• Rounds are a ‘slow intervention’ that develop their impact over time. Rounds create a safe, reflective space for staff to talk together confidentially, and attending
• Rounds increased staff members empathy and compassion for colleagues and patients, supported them in their work and helped them to make changes in practice.

Jill is a nurse and social scientist, and her research focuses on supporting staff to care well for patients. Jill qualified as a Registered nurse at Addenbrookes in Cambridge and studied History at UCL, before undertaking her Masters in Nursing at King's College London and completing her PhD at the University of Southampton. She completed her PGCE at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in 2007.

References and Further Reading
Our open access systematic review of the Schwartz Rounds literature and scoping reviews of eleven other comparator interventions: Can Schwartz Center Rounds support healthcare staff with emotional challenges at work, and how do they compare with other interventions aimed at providing similar support? A systematic review and scoping review. https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/8/10/e024254.full

Our full NIHR report Evaluating Schwartz Rounds is here: Maben J. Taylor, C. Dawson, J. Leamy, M. McCarthy, I. Reynolds, E. Ross, S. Shuldham, C. Bennett, L. Foot, C. (2018) A Realist informed mixed methods evaluation of Schwartz Center Rounds in England. Final NIHR HS&DR Report.

See our film Understanding Schwartz Rounds: Findings from a National Evaluation which embeds a short Round in it and includes NIHR research findings –freely available on YouTube & 9 minutes long–

Understanding, Implementing and Sustaining Schwartz Rounds: An Organisational Guide to Implementation (2018) The link takes you to a four question quick survey so we can understand who is downloading / using the guide - once this is completed you will have access to the PDF.