Patient falls is a huge nursing issue that requires intervention to promote patient safety at the hospital. My population is inpatient Adult, intervention is fall prevention techniques, comparison is Patient education Vs no education. Finally my outcome is outlined to promote patient’s safety and improve quality of care.
PICO Model:
P (Patient population or patient condition of interest) - Inpatient Adults
I (Intervention of interest) - Fall prevention interventions
C (Comparison of interest) - Patient education Vs No education
O (Outcome of interest) - Reduction of falls
Formulated PICO Question: Does patient education about fall prevention interventions reduce the number of falls and fall-related injuries in the hospital?
This work has significance because staff and patient education can help prevent falls. Specific interventions decrease falls. Nurses have a responsibility to their patients and their facility to be competent and confident in their abilities to do all that they can to prevent falls. Facilities have the responsibility to provide the tools and the training that is required to carry out fall prevention
Provide mandatory, up-to-date education related fall prevention. Every single one in this facility can have the adequate capacities to prevent falls and offer education to patients, family members and caregivers regarding skills and knowledge of fall prevention. Develop policies in multifaceted and tailored strategies with evidence-based practice (Breimier, Halfens, & Lohrmann, 2015). Have more awareness and "need for individualizing the care plan and communicating the plan to those working with the patient becomes evident when implementing a fall reduction program" (Ambutas, Lamb, & Quigley, 2017, p 179). In addition, maintain consistency or accuracy in risk identification and action planning, as well as obtain patient and caregiver’s commitment to adhere to the safety plan on the daily basis (Silva, & Hain, 2017). Everyone is in the same page and conduct measures effectively and efficiently. Evaluate and assess the implementation of strategies monthly. Change and correct properly and timely to reach the aim of zero falls.
All healthcare professionals will receive an adequate training about fall prevention. The topics that will be covered are the correct usage of falls risk assessment tool and care plan, universal fall precautions, the causes and effects of falls, and so forth. One on one education will be provided to the patients by the assigned nurse.
Capan, K., & Lynch, B. (2007). Reports from the field: patient safety. a hospital fall assessment and intervention project. Journal of Clinical Outcomes Management: JCOM, 14(3), 155-160.
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,
Patients are medicated, in an unknown environment, attached to lines, drains, and physiologically impaired in some manner. They are at a very high risk for falling. The American Hospital Association explains how participating hospitals have reduced falls by 27% by using the bundles and toolkits from Hospital Engagement Network (AHA HEN), this process requires the interdisciplinary team involvement. Each has their own role, nursing plays a critical role in fall prevention, they are with the patient for 12hours in a hospital setting and have direct care with assessing, creating a care plan, implementation of interventions, and evaluation. They can report any concerns or data to the
Patient safety is one of the nation's most imperative health care issues. A 1999 article by the Institute of Medicine estimates that 44,000 to 98,000 people die in U.S. hospitals each year as the result of lack of in patient safety regulations. Inhibiting falls among patients and residents in acute and long term care healthcare settings requires a multifaceted method, and the recognition, evaluation and prevention of patient or resident falls are significant challenges for all who seek to provide a safe environment in any healthcare setting. Yearly, about 30% of the persons of 65 years and older falls at least once and 15% fall at least twice. Patient falls are some of the most common occurrences reported in hospitals and are a leading
A fall can make wide spread consequences on the health service or can be affected seriously by the increased health care utilization. Among the fallers approximately 30% of falls result in physical injury leading to extensive hospitalization with significant hospital expenses (Tzeng & Yin 2010). Preventive care phases can support health services to regulate the spare expenditure to a greater extend. A fall in hospital consequently affects the nursing staff, which lead to impaired job satisfaction, additional work load and startling time consume. As the front line of care, nurses can prevent falls and reduce fall injury rates in acute care unit with available resources (Dykes et al. 2013). This literature review aims to assess the efficiency of planned interventions to reduce the incidence of falls in acute medical units. The discussions of the main findings of the review as well as the recommendations for further research are revealed to conclude this study.
During hospitalizations, falls are amongst the highest preventable consistent adverse events. Preventing such undesirable events, enhances patient overall experience, as well as increased trust in the health care professional team (Fragata, 2011). The importance of fall prevention lies with the many serious unfavorable health outcomes it can pose on the patient. Falls have the potential increase length of hospital stay, limit mobility, independence, but can ultimately lead to health deterioration, including death. Worldwide, falls are the second leading cause of accidental death. In addition to the life-threatening health and safety risks falls have to the patient, it also as a financial impact,
As a nurse we want to ensure that our patients receive a high quality of care. Patients should feel safe and satisfied while hospitalized. Many hospitals are continually looking for answers and implementation to significantly reduce the inpatient fall incidents. According to Bechdel et al (2014), the top priority of health care organizations nationwide is to reduce and eliminate falls within the clinical care settings. One of the serious problems in acute care hospital is the patient’s fall. The unfamiliar environment, acute and co-morbid illnesses, prolonged bedrest, polypharmacy, and the placement of tubes and catheters are common challenges that place patients at risk of falling. Most of the falls that I have encountered while working involves
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
Falls are a big concern for all employees in a hospital setting daily. The worst thing that can happen to a patient while being hospitalized is a fall, or a major fall, that could result in skin damage (i.e. wounds, skin tears, or abrasions), a fracture or break, thus limiting their independence. This student’s goal was to develop a way to educate staff members in ways they can help reduce the number of falls that occur. Developing a sample Fall Risk Prevention Policy as well as a Staff in-service on fall risk and Prevention achieved this goal.
If patient safety is the most important issue in Health Care facilities then how come hospital inpatient falls continue to be the most reported of all accidental falls (Tzeng & Yin, 2009)? Throughout the years, hospitals continue to make changes to decrease the risk of accidents and increase the quality of patient safety. With research studies and improvements made, patient falls still hold the largest portion of reported incidents in hospitals (Tzeng, & Yin, 2008). According to Tzeng & Yin (2008), “fall prevention programs apparently do not effectively reduce inpatient fall rates because of human factors and ergonomics in a hospital environment (p.179, para. 2). The two studies reviewed in this paper were performed with the hopes of
The procedures were conducted using the format of questionnaires. The questions on the questionnaire were based on these four main areas: cause of falls, nursing staffs intervention in fall prevention, routines of documentation and report, and experiences and reactions of nursing staff related to fall incidents. The 64 questions were distributed into four different categories of people. The four different categories are registered nurse, enrolled nurses, unskilled nurses’ aid and other professions (Struksness et al., 2011, p.3 ). Out of the 64 questions, 7 were background questions. The other 57 questions were distributed among the four main areas of fall. 28
In conclusion the research shows that further communication is needed between the patient and caregiver. The exploratory study revealed that the informants received fall prevention interventions while hospitalized and at hospital discharge, even though they did not perceive these as such initially. (Clayton 2016). By fully engaging with the patient and family member through better communication this can help their understanding of risks of falls. With effective communication and understanding of the risk of falls, fall prevention can effectively be implement without patient misconceptions.