Hospital Elder Life Program Analysis

The gap in practice that has been identified is fall risk assessment and falls prevention training by nurse practitioners in the nursing homes that the organization contracts with is not being done consistently. A Quality Improvement Project will be implemented to develop and evaluate an evidence-based program for fall risk assessment and fall prevention training through nurse practitioner collaboration to facilitate fall prevention. Falls occurs in one of every three individuals 65 years and older on an annual basis; leading to a decrease in the quality of life, causing pain, suffering, and death (Remington Group, 2017). In 2014, the estimated healthcare cost for falls related injuries was 35 billion dollars. Due to the

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,

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 efficacy of these interventions must constantly remain under scrutiny by maintaining surveillance of statistical evaluations. In addition, as a profession nursing must take into account practices that are working and those that are not based on evidence based practices and continue learning from past mistakes. It is also important not to overlook or take for granted even the slightest possible interventions for fall prevention. For example, although the CDC has ambiguously concluded that exercise programs can improve physical functioning but does not appear to reduce falls in nursing home patients, there is ongoing research that may conclude differently. The changes to current nursing practice are two-fold: 1) be open to change, 2) accept the challenge to analyze the data, learn from successes and failures, and seek to do away with unsustainable ineffective practices to reduce patient

According to the Joint Commission Resources-JCR (2005), there is no universally accepted definition of a fall. Thus several definitions have been floated over time in an attempt to define the same. One such definition of a fall is "an untoward event that results in the patient or resident coming to rest unintentionally on the ground or another lower surface" (Joint Commission Resources, 2005). Falls are regarded common causes of injury at every age. However, it is important to note that for seniors, falls can have serious consequences. This is more so the case given that a fall can bring about pain, trauma, or even death. With that in mind, the primary purpose of this program remains the reduction of falls and hence the aversion of related injuries amongst the concerned patients. Of key importance remains the identification of patients who appear to be at high risk of falling. This way, appropriate strategies can be developed to reduce the injuries related to inpatient falls.

The Falls Management Program (FMP) is a multifaceted quality improvement initiative that is designed to assist nursing homes, it includes assessment, individualized care planning, resident monitoring, and the elimination of environmental safety hazards (Taylor, J., Parmelee, P., Brown, H., & Ouslander, J., 2005). FMP also improves care processes and outcomes through educational, staff training and quality improvement tools and ongoing consultation by qualified falls nurse. There are several reasons why FMP is significant. Research shows that about half of the nursing home residents in the U.S. fall each year and it is estimated that 1 in 3 of those who fall will fall in the future. Falling

Several national and global campaigns already exist that provide tips and resources for fall prevention. However, statistics continue to demonstrate that falls continue to remain a serious problem in the elderly community. No one can argue that education is the best defense against falls. Nor can they argue that national efforts are not needed. Despite these national campaigns, falls

Many people believe that falling is a normal part of the aging process and that if a person lives long enough they will eventually suffer a fall. It is true that some of the physiological changes that occur in every older adult as a normal part of the aging process do increase an older adult’s risk of falling. However, a fall does not need to be the end result in each of these situations. There are certain activities and strategies that can be undertaken by the nurse in health care settings in order to lower the risk of these falls occurring. It is especially important for nurses in health care facilities to assess older clients for their fall risks and then to plan and implement strategies and activities that will lower those risks.

In the peer reviewed article Management of Falls in Community- Dwelling Older Adults, the authors clearly explain how an individualized patient assessment must be done to identify potential fall risk factors. Medical history of the patient, body functions, activities, participation and cognition are some of the aspects to take in consideration regarding an old adult health care. Beside those factors, environmental hazard is one of the most common causes of falling in old people even when they are healthy (Avin, Keith G, ; Hanke, Timothy A; Kirk-Sanchez, Neva; McDonough, Christine M; Shubert, Tiffany E; et al, Jun 2015). Because elderly

Injuries resulting from falls are a serious health concern, especially with the growing elderly population. In adults aged 65 or more, injuries are the sixth leading cause of death and falls are the leading cause of these injuries (Al-Faisal, 2006, p. 5). Injuries from these falls may also reduce a person’s mobility and independence. “In the United States, one in every three older adults falls each year. In 1997, nearly 9,000 persons aged >65 years died from falls. Of those who fall, 20%-30% sustain moderate to severe injuries that reduce mobility and independence and increase the risk for premature death” (Al-Faisal, 2006, p. 5). We need fall prevention training set up in communities and in people’s homes to limit the

Falls and Fall related hospitalization and injury will increase as the population over age 65 increases. Falls impact not only seniors quality of life, as well as have repercussions in the lives of family and friends, the health care system and nursing home occupancy. This is an issue that should be addressed prior to the large fluctuation in population to set adequate services and programming in place for prevention and supporting the inevitable increase of hospitalizations and nursing home occupancies. The next obstacle in prevention & intervention is to gain entry into the community.

196-199), Older Adult Inpatient Falls in Acute Care Hospitals: Intrinsic, Extrinsic, and Environmental Factors used a varying sample size of 71 to 34,972 acute care hospital patients, including the ages of 17 to 104 years old (Zhao, Kim, 2015, pp. 29-43), Hospital Fall Prevention: A Systematic Review of Implementation, Components, Adherence, and Effectiveness met the criteria of a study due to the inclusion of studies that report in-hospital falls in acute care hospital setting, however this study wasn’t age specific (Hempel et al., 2013, pp. 483-493), An Analysis of Patient Falls and Fall Prevention Programs across Academic Medical Centers analyzed 154,618 inpatient falls, this study did not specifically focus on this groups’ targeted age population (Williams, Szekendi, Thomas, 2014, pp 19-29). Evidence-Based Falls Prevention in Critical Access Hospitals was another study that focused on inpatients but wasn’t specific to the 65 year old or older

Fall prevention is a vital aspect of a nurse’s job in the hospital. In this article, it explains hospitals having fall risk assessment tools, but many of them have not implemented interventions to mitigate patient-specific fall risk to these tools. The research problem addressed even though fall prevention should be modified to the individuals risk factors. Hospitals have not implement the use of fall prevention intervention to targeted patient with specific risk factors. Each patient is an individual and may have different risk factors than the patient in the next bed. The gaps in knowledge for fall risk patient are medical personnel don’t consider patient specific fall risk factors in the hospital setting. This study understands little research

The word “fall” does not usually strike fear into the hearts of most people, but it should. Falls are all too common in the geriatric population, and they have devastating consequences. American Geriatric Society. (2016) falls are the leading cause of injury and death in adults 65 years and over. A person who falls may sustain severe injuries such as hip fracture, or head trauma. Falls have cost the US health system more than $19 billion and is predicted to increase to $54.9 billion by 2020. Falls are prevalent among elderly patients living in a Long Term Care Facility. According to Lee, A., Lee, K.-W., & Khang, P. (2013), argues that falls are the common and devastating problem among elderly clients causing a tremendous amount of morbidity,

Falls are the most frequent and devastating accidents in older adult (WHO, 2004). There are different interpretations related to falls. For instance, according to healthcare professions fall is an event leading to ill health and injuries, whereas older adults define it as a loss of balance (Zecevic et al., 2006). Approximately, 28% to 35% older adults age 65 years and older fall each year (WHO, 2007). Around 85% of these falls occurs in the home among older adults living independently (Tideiksaar, 1987). Falls accounts for 40% of all fatal injuries (Rubenstein, 2006). Fall is a reason for 25% of all hospital admissions, 40% of all nursing home admissions and 40% of those admitted do not return to independent living (Learn not to fall,