Nearly 40 years after William Osler advocated "radical reform"at Johns Hopkins to bring medical education to the bedside,1Romano reported the observations of 100 patients at Peter BentBrigham Hospital whose physicians had made case presentationsduring ward rounds.2 He concluded: "Ward round teaching, whenconducted tactfully and sympathetically . . . is not a traumaticemotional experience to patients but educates and reassuresthem."2 In the five decades since Romano's report, there hasbeen a progressive decline in the practice of bedside teaching.3,4The perception that patients are uncomfortable during roundsat the bedside is often cited as . . . [Full Text of this Article]
Ruffy, R., Bellet, P. S., Glass, A. R., Lehmann, L. S., Brancati, F. L., Dobs, A. S., Thibault, G. E.
(1997). Bedside Presentations and Patients' Perceptions of Their Medical Care. NEJM
337: 714-716
[Full Text]