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: The purpose of this article is to describe and analyze nurse involvement in hospital bedside rounding from 1873 to 1973. Interdisciplinary rounding is touted as a collaborative activity between nurses and physicians. Understanding the historical trends in nurse involvement in this process can shed light on the opportunities and barriers that clinical rounding presents today. This research was gathered using historical sources, both primary and secondary, and a social history framework. Primary sources included manuals for head nurses, nursing journals, and nursing student diaries.

The aim of this article is to elucidate the traditional ward round from an historical, ethical and legal perspective. On the traditional ward round in hospitals, a senior clinician leads a group of other clinicians and health professionals on a walking tour through the ward to visit the patients for whom they are responsible at bedside. It is a long-lived tradition or routine, which has been substantially resistant to change. We recommend that work designed to improve the ward round should begin from values or ethical principles, such as respecting the patient's integrity and right to participate in decision-making. Moreover, the focal point should be creating opportunities for »the good meeting« and patient narratives. A team-based, person-centred ward round has been implemented in some hospitals in Sweden. The patient meets the ward team in a separate room to discuss the plan of care together. We argue that it is no longer possible to defend the traditional way of walking rounds, either ethically or legally.