Use of bed alarms and hourly rounding in elderly patient fall reduction

Equally, bed alarm systems have been put in place to reduce the risk of falls. Regardless, there have been dismal changes in the patient outcome. Henceforth, this literature review aims to unearth whether combining bed alarms and hourly rounding is more effective than bed alarms alone. Literature Review The literature review is organized in order of year of publication from the oldest to the most recent. The oldest article was published in 2012 by Shorr et al. Despite numerous patients, the site used for the experiment was one. Although this made all the environmental conditions even, the findings may not apply to different environments, which is the reality in many hospitals. However, the paper is still valid for this research as it concisely shows that alarm systems are not more effective than hospital rounding.

Correspondingly, the next article by Olrich, Kalman, & Ningolian, was published in 2013. The text is a study whose aim is to determine the impact of hourly rounding on the rate of patient fall. Even so, the study is essential in this research. The replication study emphasizes the benefits of hourly rounds in reducing patient fall. Equally, the researchers pointed out the weaknesses that existed in previous experiments. By so doing, one can avoid the same pitfalls, henceforth, raising the accuracy of the research findings. Furthermore, given its year of publication, which is 2012, the text can be used as a reference for other research articles, which were used. In analyzing the data, stratification was used for randomized controlled trials (RCT). Afterward, the results from the 1,384 documents were tabulated in the form of a flowchart, and several tables, displaying the results.

The researchers found that the alerts, leadership styles, staff education, and another contributing factor, were not adequately explained in the texts. In fact, in some papers, approximately 17% of the total number, there was no documentation of these factors, yet they affected the fall rates of the patients. Regardless, the remaining percentage showed consistency in the interventions sued to curb patient fall. Moreover, the massive scope of information used is essential as it alludes to accuracy in the details. The 2014 article by Sahota et al. is a controlled experiment of bed and bedside chair pressure controllers. The researchers aimed at testing the effectiveness of pressure controllers in limiting bedside falls in the hospital. The investigation, conducted in Queen Hospital, UK, involved 1839 patients.

However, given the outcome, it is likely that the rate could be much lower on a larger scale. In the same vein, the number of participants was meager. For a country like the UK, it would not be accurate to only used one hospital to conduct such an experiment. Compared to the overall population size, such a small number would not accurately represent the entire population. Even so, the article was chosen for several reasons. Forthwith, the researchers reviewed published literature and performed a GRADE analysis on the data obtained. Databases like CINAHL, PubMed, and Medline were used to complete the research. The researchers found that proper patient care was imperative for appropriate administration of services. For administrators, it is essential to know measures to take, like training the staff, so that they can deliver the best services.

The article is critical for this research as it highlights the value of leadership in providing excellent services. Even so, the researchers noted that factors like demography and sickness affected the performance of the system. For this reason, nurses were advised to be cautious and even administer anti-depressants to lower the risk of falling. Although the number of patients used for the research was small, the impact of the system makes the finding relevant in this research. The year of publication also shows that the investigation was conducted reasonably recently, hence, the outcome could be applied in current medical practice. The seventh article was by Miake et al. Even so, the exact number of patients is not given, so one assumes that the hospital bed capacity equaled the number of patients observed.

It is noteworthy that patients from different wards were used throughout the study. The pilot study entailed the use of an intervention design, which included a patient-centered hourly rounding. Qualified nurses and patient care technicians did the rounding. The researchers evaluated the effectiveness of the hourly rounding and regularly trained the staff to improve their efficiency. Regardless, the pilot study had some shortcomings. The duration of the pilot study was very short. For more accuracy, it would have been better if the researchers took longer than a month. The effectiveness of the hourly checkup was only certified for a month. The long-term implications of the same practice remain unknown, prompting further research. The outstanding intervention is the patient-centered approach. Catering to patients on an individual basis diminishes the occurrence of the risk of falling at a notable rate.