Abstract

This study considers different ways of maximising learning opportunities during ward rounds, with particular emphasis on the strengths and challenges of the paediatric environment. The focus is on the most common types of ward round – in acute units involving predominantly trainees – but we hope there will also be much that will interest those who work in other settings such as community clinics. Alongside a review of the best available evidence from the literature, and underpinned by educational theory, suggestions for maximising learning on ward rounds are presented. Many of these ideas were generated from working in small groups with over 90 experienced paediatricians, each with particular experience and interest in medical education, as part of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health's Paediatric Educators' Programme, the PEP.