Acute Care And Long-Term Care Model Analysis

At Brigham and Woman Hospital, this fall prevention program has been instituted throughout the facility. The protocol requires all patients to be screened for fall risk factors upon their admission to the hospital. Upon admission, nurses must conduct a throughout medical assessment, and use the Morse Fall Scale to assess patients mobility, muscle strength, gait, vision of patients because those conditions can put patients at increase risk for falls. At the end of each assessment, a number is provided to each patient determining the degree of fall and documented in the patient chart. For example, a patient might be a low risk for fall while another might at high risk for fall. In addition, the nurse must create a plan of care and

The purpose and scope of the “RNAO Falls Prevention CPG” are: “To increase all nurses’ confidence, knowledge, skills and abilities in the identification of adults within health care facilities at risk of falling and to define interventions for the prevention of falling. It does not include interventions for prevention of falls and fall injuries in older adults living in community settings. The guideline has relevance to areas of clinical practice including acute care and long-term care,

Falls are highly common amongst the elderly, particularly those who lack mobility, are in hospital, or are living in a nursing home. When an elderly person falls, their activities of daily living may be impacted due to injuries sustained from the fall. It is essential that precautions are put in place to prevent falls in all settings. This essay will discuss the statistics surrounding falls, prevention strategies, and the impacts of a fall on a patient’s ability to complete activities of daily living.

The transitioning to a long-term care facility can be scary and stressful for residents, and some may find it difficult to adjust. I agree with you that the enabler role can be of great assistance to the resident and their families to help reduce the stress of entering a new facility. The frequent visits and encouragement from the social worker will let both the patient and their family know they will not be alone during this transition. Have you ever had to utilize the services of a social worker? In my current position, I come into contact with patients who require the support of a social worker typically for help with resources that they need to attain. Being a social worker is a demanding position since they are there to assist the patient,

Elimination of patient falls is not an easy task otherwise they would have been eliminated by now. Patient falls unfortunately continue to be a challenge and occur within the hospital and nursing home settings at alarming and sometimes deadly rates. The Center for Disease Control estimates that 1,800 older adults living in nursing homes die each year from fall-related injuries. Survivors frequently sustain injuries resulting in permanent disability and reduced quality of life. Annually, a typical nursing home with 100 beds reports 100 to 200 falls and many falls go unreported (CDC, 2015). Falls occur more often in nursing homes because patients are generally weaker, have more chronic illnesses, have difficulty ambulating, memory issues, and difficulty with activities of daily living all of which are factors linked to falling. Contributing causes of nursing home falls include walking or gait issues, environmental hazards such as wet

Cardiac diseases alone have been estimated, direct and indirect costs, for the overall American population are “approximately $165.4 billion for 2009” (CDC, 2013). A survey found that heart disease accounted for 4.2 million of the hospitalizations in 2006. In 62% of these cases were short stay hospitalizations and occurred amount peoples ages 65 and older. These hospitalization rates also vary by gender, racial, and ethnic groups.

Falls are the leading cause of medical complications in health care facilities in the United States. Statistics from The Joint Commission shows that hundreds of thousands of patients fall in hospitals every year, with 30-50% of those falls resulting in injury (“Preventing falls and fall-related injuries,” 2015). Furthermore, the consequences of falls are that injured patients will require longer hospital stay leading to an increase in healthcare costs (“Preventing falls and fall-related injuries,” 2015). To prevent falls, health care facilities have implemented evidence-based intervention strategies such as fall risk assessment tools and faster call light response time.

L. Holtz, a registered nurse (RN), mentions even with the use of tab alarms, residents still experience falls (personal communication, February 3, 2017). When a resident is first admitted into long term care, they undergo various assessments. One assessment is the Morse Fall Scale (MFS). The MFS is a rapid and simple method of assessing a patient’s likelihood of falling. It consists of six variables that include: history of falling, secondary diagnosis, ambulatory aid, intravenous (IV)/Heparin lock, gait/transferring, and mental status. There are three risk levels based on scoring: no risk, low risk, and high risk. L. Holtz pointed out interventions for high risk residents would include: tab alarms, floor alarms, and lower beds (personal communication, February 3, 2017). She also mentioned each resident is identified as a fall risk by a falling star poster which is attached to their name tag outside their door (L. Holtz, personal communication, February 3, 2017). Other interventions to reduce the occurrence of falls include: regular toileting, clutter-free areas, and well lighted area. Efforts and interventions are placed to assure the safety of the residents. However, even when these interventions are in place, falls still

The three systems consist of hospitals, long-term care, and the mental and behavioral health system. Hospitals before the 17 and 1800’s were institutions for the poor and sick. Middle class people preferred to receive their care in the comfort of their own homes. Hospitals have evolved tremendously since the 17 and 1800’s. All people are treated in hospitals today, despite their social class. The key factors of hospitals are to deliver care for acute illnesses and injuries and maintain advanced technology. Many hospitals provide specialized centers in order to provide the best care for patients. Because hospitals are overcrowded, the goal is to stabilize the patient, and send them home to follow up with their primary care physician for further treatment. Hospitals are under constant pressure to admit only the patients that are facing life threatening illnesses. Technology is the driving force behind transforming healthcare. Patients will gravitate to hospitals that provide the latest technology for the best treatment options. Technology can also reduce stress, improve errors, and reduce healing time for certain surgeries. Long-term care is for those requiring more

Use of fall prevention strategies (call light within reach & bed alarm activated) to protect patient from falling since patient has history of

Categorical includes assessment procedures that are in the acute care model unlike global assessment. Categorical focuses more on a single problem. Basically, categorical sees people more like objects than on the whole person. Additionally, categorical does not collect information on family or the social environment. Overall the information gathered consist of self reports (p. 55). Global on the other hand consist of recovery management model which consist of long term care. Unlike categorical, global looks at the individual as a whole and includes the family, as well as, the community.

Patient falls have been a long debated healthcare issue throughout time and measured as a nursing sensitive issue. The National Quality Forum (NQF) has endorsed patient falls with an injury with the steward of the American Nurses Association (NFQ: Quality Positioning Systems, 2014). All patient falls are documented per 1,000 patient days via the measurement description (NQF: Quality Positioning Systems, 2014). The target population that accounts for the total number of patient falls is in the medical-surgical, step-down, critical care, critical access, surgical, medical and adult rehabilitation units (NQF: Quality Positioning Systems, 2014). The Center for Control and Disease (CDC) has reported that every seventeen seconds, an elderly patient will have a fall in a hospital (Hill & Fauerbach, 2014). The majority of falls are associated with patients ambulating from a bed, chair, or toilet without the proper assistance (Shorr, Chandler, Mion, Waters Liu Daniels, et al., 2012). There is a new regulation published by the Center for Medicaid Services. It states that injuries acquired through a fall in an organization will be held responsible for those medical costs (Hill & Fauerbach, 2014). In fact, in 2010, there was approximately $30B in hospital costs related to patient falls (Hill & Fauerbach, 2014). With the increasing number of patient falls in acute care settings and the change of healthcare coverage, does the use of bed alarms reduce the risk of falls of

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2016) press release one of the leading cause of accidental deaths of the elderly is falls. This is an issue for our seniors many long-term care (LTC) facilities across the nation. However, one of our primary goals in health care is patient safety. Although, no one can guarantee a patient will never fall, it is our job to maintain a safe environment, prevent falls and injuries. The families of our elders move them into a nursing facility expecting an accident free, uneventful stay for the remainder of their loved ones days. In some cases, frequent calls at various hours of the day to report adverse event which are often falls becomes the reality.

The American Geriatrics Center have screening and assessment tools in order to pinpoint who may be at risk for falling risks and therefore the interdisplinary team can use these tools in order to see which patients are more prone to falling and keep a closer watch on that patient ("AGS/BGS Clinical Practice Guideline: Prevention of Falls in Older Persons"). The Agency of Healthcare Research and Quality, under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, have prevention of fall guidelines such as screening the patient, performing a risk assessment, and preventing fall risk with interventions including communicating risk factors, environmental and universal fall interventions, observation and surveillance of the patients, etc. ("National Guideline Clearinghouse | Prevention of falls (acute care). Health care protocol."). All these could be used by the interdisciplinary team to prevent falls in the acute care

The Safe Life Management, Inc. values seniors and the care that is provided with them. We understand that they are a significant and increasing portion of the population. Unfortunately, falling is the leading cause of injury among seniors. Those who live in long-term care facilities are prone to falling. As a result, we have worked with over 100 facilities in implementing training strategies and education classes to improve on fall prevention.