Wall-mounted folding chairs to promote resident physician sitting at the hospital bedside (20 January 2024)

Summary

This study shows that the simple act of a doctor sitting in a chair during hospital bedside discussions improves the experience for both doctors and patients. The research team examined whether educating internal medicine residents on the value of sitting and adding a wall-mounted folding chair in plain sight to hospital rooms would motivate doctors to use chairs. The study also measured the impact of whether this physician behaviour impacted patient perceptions. The results showed that:

• Education alone improved sitting frequency to 15%, but adding dedicated chairs for the clinicians in addition to any patient or visitor chairs improved sitting to 45%.
• In units where residents were given only education on the value of sitting, patients reported 49% of the time residents always spent enough time by the bedside with them, compared to 73% when a chair was available.
• In units with education only, 67% of the time residents always checked to ensure the patient understood everything, compared to 87% when a chair was present.