The nursing round system (NRS) means checking patients on an hourly basis during the A (0700–2200 h) shift and once
every 2 h during the B (2200–0700 h) by the assigned nursing staff. The overall goal of this prospective study is to
implement an NRS in a major rehabilitation centre—Sultan Bin Abdulaziz Humanitarian City—in the Riyadh area of the
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The purposes of this study are to measure the effect of the NRS on: (i) the use of patient call
light; (ii) the number of incidences of patients’ fall; (iii) the number of incidences of hospital-acquired bed sores; and (iv)
the level of patients’ satisfaction. All patients hospitalized in the male stroke unit will be involved in this study. For the
period of 8 weeks (17 December 2009–17 February 2010) All Nursing staff on the unit will record each call light and the
patient’s need. Implementation of the NRS would start on 18 February 2010 and last for 8 weeks, until 18 April 2010.
Data collected throughout this period will be compared with data collected during the 8 weeks period immediately
preceding the implementation of the NRS (17 December 2009–17 February 2010) in order to measure the impact of the
call light use. The following information were collected on all subjects involved in the study: (i) the Demographic
Information Form; (ii) authors’ developed NRS Audit Form; (iii) Patient Call Light Audit Form; (iv) Patient Fall Audit
Record; (v) Hospital-Acquired Bed Sores Audit Form; and (vi) hospital developed Patient Satisfaction Records. The
findings suggested that a significant reduction on the use of call bell (P < 0.001), a significant reduction of fall incidence
(P < 0.01) while pressure ulcer reduced by 50% before and after the implementation of NRS. Also, the implementation
of NRS increased patient satisfaction by 7/5 (P < 0.05).
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