Ombudsman Rounds on the otolaryngology service

Abstract

An attempt to enhance psychiatric teaching on the Otolaryngology Service was undertaken by employing the vehicle of Ombudsman Rounds. The structure of these rounds is dictated by its major goal of maximizing the relationship of the surgeon and liaison psychiatrist as coteachers among the staff of the ENT surgical unit. Surgical residents, surgical clerks, nurses, and the social worker meet with the Chairman of the ENT Department and the liaison psychiatrist in a scheduled weekly conference, which addresses both staff and patient needs on the in-patient surgical service. Through patient interviews, multidiscipline staff presentations, chief of service surgical and prognostic summaries, and liaison psychiatrists' formulations, group discussions are undertaken. Through such an experience the staff become aware of the patient's feelings and understandings about their illness and care. The goal of Ombudsman Rounds is to enhance patient care, advance psychiatric knowledge of the multidiscipline staff, and provide and ongoing vehicle to change attitudes so that they incorporate a biopsychosocial approach to patient management on the ENT Service.