Journal of hospital medicine : an official publication of the Society of Hospital Medicine
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Sitting at patients' bedsides may improve patients' perceptions of physician communication skills.
Sitting at a patient's bedside in the inpatient setting is recommended as a best practice but has not been widely adopted. Previous studies suggest that a physician's seated posture may increase the patient's perception of time spent in the room but have not included hospitalists. We performed a cluster-randomized trial of seated versus standing physician posture during inpatient rounds on a hospitalist service at an academic medical center. ⋯ Patients' perception of the time their physician spent in their room was not affected by physician posture. Sitting at the bedside during rounds does not increase the amount of time spent with the patient but may improve patient-physician communication. Journal of Hospital Medicine 2015;11:865-868. © 2015 Society of Hospital Medicine.