Fall Precautions at an East Florida Hospital

Designing an evidenced-based strategy can help in resolving the problem by identifying suitable intervention measures. The above project contains an evidenced-based strategy that was extracted from peer review journals. The proposed strategies can fully be implemented to yield effective results which are zero falls at the organization. Educational strategy, integrated with the environmental reorganization, and provision of patient fall toolkit have been suggested as effective strategies. Acknowledgements Project Title Problem Identification A patient fall can be defined as an unplanned descent to the floor either with or without injury to a patient and takes place in a nursing unit. The caring environment and risk factors such as disabilities and ageing are to blame for most of the number of falls in healthcare organizations (Hayakawa et al. Other risks for falls include multimerization including antidepressants, limited mobility, cognitive impairment.

It is essential that healthcare workers identify patients who are at risk of a fall so that they can be handled in an effective manner (Hayakawa et al. Staff shortage and staff negligence can also be blamed for fall of patients Change, Quality Improvement, or Innovation Fall prevention program together with nurse education are essential steps that will drastically reduce patient falls within the healthcare organization. Evidence-based interventions provided as effective in preventing patient falls include hourly rounding by nurses, communication between nurse, patient, and family members and review on medications. Nurse leaders will organize nursing education programs to ensure that every department is involved. The nurses and physicians will take part in the education program Purpose of Project The purpose of the project is to create an evidence-based strategy that can be applied to reduce the number of patient falls at the organization.

The project will involve the relevant stakeholders to come up with practical solution on the issue. An educational program has been suggested as an effective way that will help the nurses and other healthcare practitioners together with caregivers to aid in monitoring patients at risk of falling. Proposed Solution The project outlines an educational intervention alongside other implementations that will aim at achieving zero falls of patients. According to Chu et al. several factors contribute to patient fall and that healthcare providers should be able to prevent most of these factors. The staff and hospital-related factors mentioned by the authors include “call lights”, certain patients are not quick to use the call light such as dementia patients who may not be aware of the use of call lights. The authors suggest that use of call light is highly related to reduced patient fall.

Poor nurse to patient ration can also be blamed for fall of patients. Decreased joint action, weakened the muscle, and psychotic issues increased chances of a patient falling (Chu et al. The above causes are mostly associated with elderly individuals. However, that does not rule out the fact that care should be given even to the younger patients who may be at risk of falling, especially those taking several medications and have cognitive dysfunction. Effects of Patient Fall Patient fall is a negative factor that results in more damages. The possible outcomes of a patient fall include bodily injury and other body complications that may result in more days in the hospital. conducted a qualitative study on best strategies to prevent falling of patients. The qualitative study discovered that intense messaging of nurses by the hospital administrators was effective in reducing patient falls.

Messaging nurses on the need to achieve zero falls by the hospital administration impacted the nurses having a fear of falls, protecting unit and self, and restriction of fall on patients they identified to be at risk. The above strategy helped with a sharp drop in patient falls. Such an approach can work in other healthcare organizations to urge nurses on the need to prevent patient fall. The above strategies should be able to help healthcare organizations on how to prevent fall of patients. Education will also be provided on post fall interventions that will entail an assessment of the patient and reporting the issue for necessary action. Nurses should able to assess the level of consciousness in a patient, the presence of pain and any injury that might have occurred (Pati et al.

Plan of Action The proposed plan of action involves the creation of an educational program integrated with environmental planning, the creation of delirium treatment rooms, designing fall prevention enabling kit will be implemented. The other programs apart from education require the involvement of the hospital administration in terms of resource allocation and budgeting. Patient education is also necessary to help in fall prevention. Creation of internal Tv programs in patient rooms on safety issues will help them and their caregivers on essential precautions that will help them on how to handle themselves within the hospital (Rowe, 2012). The organization will also ensure that additional equipment has been provided to assist in the education and implementation process. Apart from hiring an expert to lecture the nurses, money will be incurred in purchasing more Tvs in patient rooms for safety education purposes, posters, and communication equipment.

Timeline The implementation process will take one year to develop, consolidate, and incorporate the new fall prevention practices. Proposed Change Theory Spradley’s change theory The theory is essential in the change process because it provides several avenues for addressing the issues of change. The implementation of patient fall programs and resource allocation can be efficiently done using the theory. Spradley’s theory is based on concepts from Lawin’s theory that has been used widely in nursing (Hussain et al. The approach emphasizes the need for continuous monitoring of a particular project. The implementation of the program concerning patient fall requires the monitoring and evaluation of every step taken to ensure it turns out useful. Such coordination can be accomplished by operational practices and an organizational culture that promotes teamwork, individual expertise, and effective communication.

Fall prevention programs have to be minimized with other aspects such as maintenance of patient mobility and minimization of restraints (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2018). Lack of preparedness by the organization can also be a barrier to implementation of fall prevention programs. Lack of financial, material, and personnel resources to help in the implementation process, lack of urgency to change by the staff members, lack of administration support, and poor planning by the implementers. Avoiding the barriers requires proper planning and resource allocation by the administration (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2018). doi. org/10. nurse. Hayakawa, T. Hashimoto, S. Lei, S. Akram, T. Haider, M. Hussain, S. Ali, M. doi. org/10. King, B. Pecanac, K. Krupp, A. Oh, Y. Top Five Physical Design Factors Contributing to Fall Initiation. HERD: Health Environments Research & Design Journal, 193758671876379.

doi. org/10. Managing Change Creatively. JONA: The Journal Of Nursing Administration, 10(5), 32???36. doi. org/10. Appendix A Credible Sources Author(s) (Formatted as an in-text citation) Database (CINAHL, EBSCO, Cochrane, Pro-Quest) Peer-Reviewed (Yes/No) Applicability (Yes/No) Evidence Grade (Strength/ Hierarchy) Appraisal (Brief summary of findings; how findings inform your project?) Inclusion (Yes/No) (Pati, Lee, Mihandoust, Kazem-Zadeh & Oh, 2018) PubMed Yes Yes Strong The article is a primary research article that aimed at investigating causes of patient falls. Appendix B Organization Approval Letter Appendix C Preceptor Agreement Form.