Study Setting and Population
hearing impairment, cognitive impairment
HEARING IMPAIRMENT, SECONDARY
This is a secondary analysis of the BEDSIDE-OUTSIDE Study, a multicenter RCT with the aim to assess the effects of bedside case presentation during ward rounds on patients’ medical knowledge. The design, statistical analysis, and primary results have been published elsewhere.In brief, patients hospitalized in the medical divisions of three Swiss tertiary care hospitals (University Hospital Basel, Kantonsspital Aarau, and Kantonsspital Baselland) between July 2017 and October 2019 were eligible to participate in the trial.Consecutive adult patients newly admitted to medical wards for inpatient care who had their first weekly consultant ward round during hospitalization were recruited and randomized to the “bedside case-presentation group” or the “outside-the-room case-presentation group” in a 1:1 ratio.During a consultant ward round, the team, which oversees the patients’ treatment (attending physician, resident, nurse, pharmacist, and medical students), is accompanied by a consultant, e.g., the head of service or one of their deputies. As the consultant does not know the patient in advance, a resident presents the patient to the healthcare team. Afterwards, the team discusses the patient’s case in more detail considering patient history and current laboratory findings as well as potential diagnostic and therapeutic approaches.Patients with cognitive impairment (e.g., dementia/delirium) or severe hearing impairment and patients who did not have the proficiency of the local language(s) (German or French) or who had previously participated in the study were excluded. All patients were aware about the study purpose and provided written informed consent.The study was approved by the local Ethics Committee (Northwest and Central Switzerland, EKNZ, 2017-00991) and registered at This study adheres to the CONSORT guidelines.