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Winston-Salem, N.C.-based Novant Health has become the first health system in the U.S. to use Q-rounds, a real-time rounds coordination platform, in adult inpatient units and intensive care units, marking a significant expansion of the Novant Health Q-rounds ICU program beyond its original pediatric setting.
How Novant Health Q-Rounds ICU Technology Started in the NICU
It first launched Q-rounds in its neonatal intensive care unit, where the technology let families know when care teams planned to arrive at the bedside. This pediatric origin point gave Novant an initial testing ground for the platform’s core function, real-time family notification of clinical rounds, before expanding it into more complex adult care settings.
Expanding Into Adult Inpatient and ICU Settings
The health system has now extended the platform to adult units at Charlotte-based Presbyterian Medical Center, the first adult inpatient unit in the country to use Q-rounds, and Thomasville (N.C.) Medical Center, the first adult ICU to use the platform. Betty H. Cameron Women’s & Children’s Hospital in Wilmington, N.C., and Hemby Children’s Hospital in Charlotte, including its PICU and NICU, are also part of the rollout.
How Novant Health Q-Rounds ICU Actually Works for Families
Family members who opt in receive real-time alerts about when clinicians expect to arrive for daily rounds, and those who cannot be at the bedside can RSVP to join remotely by phone or video. Nearly 350 family members have joined rounds remotely since Novant Health launched the platform.
Why Remote RSVP Access Matters for Family Engagement
Allowing family members who cannot physically be present to join rounds remotely addresses a common barrier facing families with work obligations, distant living situations, or mobility limitations, extending meaningful participation in care conversations to those who would otherwise be excluded entirely from these bedside discussions.
Leadership’s Perspective on This Novant Health Q-Rounds ICU Expansion
“By making it easier for families to be part of those conversations, regardless of where they are, we’re creating a more connected, transparent and supportive care experience,” said Sanjay Gupta, executive vice president and chief transformation officer at Novant Health, in an Aug. 24 news release.
Why This Framing Emphasizes Transparency
Gupta’s specific emphasis on creating a “connected, transparent” care experience positions this technology as addressing broader patient and family communication concerns that have long been a focus of hospital quality and experience initiatives, rather than treating Q-rounds as a purely operational scheduling tool.
What Comes Next for Novant Health Q-Rounds ICU
Novant Health plans to expand Q-rounds to additional hospitals and inpatient units over the next several months, indicating this current rollout across Presbyterian Medical Center, Thomasville Medical Center, and the two children’s hospitals represents an early phase rather than the platform’s final scope within the health system.
How This Fits Novant Health’s Broader Digital Health Strategy
This rollout follows other recent digital health initiatives at Novant Health, including hospital-at-home programs that have saved the system nearly 1,600 inpatient bed days, suggesting the health system is pursuing a broader pattern of technology investments aimed at extending care coordination and communication beyond traditional hospital walls and schedules.
What This Novant Health Q-Rounds ICU Rollout Means Going Forward
With nearly 350 family members already using remote RSVP access since launch, this early adoption data gives Novant Health a concrete engagement benchmark to build on as it extends Q-rounds to additional hospitals and inpatient units in the coming months. Given that Presbyterian Medical Center and Thomasville Medical Center now hold the distinction of being the first adult inpatient unit and first adult ICU nationally to use this technology, other health systems evaluating similar family engagement tools may look to Novant’s experience as an early reference point.
What to Watch Going Forward
As Novant Health continues expanding Q-rounds to additional hospitals and inpatient units, industry observers will likely watch whether remote family participation rates continue growing at the pace seen in this initial rollout, and whether other health systems follow with their own adult ICU and inpatient deployments of similar rounds coordination technology. Given the platform’s origins in NICU family communication now successfully extending into adult critical care, this Novant Health Q-rounds ICU expansion may offer a template for how hospitals can adapt family-engagement technology originally designed for pediatric settings to serve adult patients and their families as well.
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