microrounds

Microrounds are brief, structured educational rounds conducted by healthcare teams. They are designed as rapid, focused discussions—typically five to fifteen minutes—centered on a single clinical topic, a recent case, or a patient safety issue. The goal is to reinforce knowledge, improve practice, and disseminate updates in a time-efficient manner within the clinical workflow.

A typical micround format includes a facilitator who presents a concise topic or case, followed by a short discussion, key takeaways, and sometimes a quick poll or checklist. Participation is usually voluntary, and sessions emphasize learning rather than assessment and are designed to be non-punitive and inclusive of multidisciplinary staff.

Microrounds can be implemented in hospitals, residency programs, clinics, and other settings that involve team-based care. They may occur daily or weekly and may cover guidelines, diagnostic reasoning, medication safety, infection control, or other topics. Content is often aligned with ongoing quality or safety priorities and may be tied to existing educational structures such as rounds or newsletters.

Benefits include improved knowledge retention, faster dissemination of practice changes, better cross-disciplinary communication, and greater consistency in care. Challenges include fitting sessions into busy schedules, ensuring appropriate depth in short time, maintaining engagement, and avoiding duplication of other educational activities.

The concept aligns with broader trends toward microlearning and just-in-time education in medicine. For institutions, microrounds offer a lightweight method for ongoing professional development and rapid response to new evidence. See also grand rounds, huddle, morbidity and mortality conference, microlearning.