[1] Originally a patient-centered experience aimed at increasing clinician knowledge for treating unique cases, today Grand Rounds is more commonly used to educate students, showcase faculty role models, and promote collegiality in clinical settings[1] Grand rounds help doctors and other healthcare professionals keep up to date in important evolving areas which may be outside of their core practice.
Rounding with an attending physician is an important part of medical on-the-job training and education, but its primary focus is immediate care for the patients on the ward.
Grand rounds tends to present the bigger picture, including experience with patients over many years, and the newest research and treatments in an area.
A 1966 report in the Australian journal Clinical Pediatrics called into question the sometimes inconsiderate behavior of practitioners who treated patients who were featured cases of grand rounds.
Many of these organizations provide an archive of several years of recent grand rounds presentations and as such offer a tremendous resource for increasing medical knowledge and improving patient care.