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Summary WK3Assgn.docx (1) Running Head: REDUCING HEALTHCARE RELATED FALLS 1 NURS 4221 Reducing Healthcare Related Falls Walden University NURS 4221 Leadership Competencies in Nursing and Healthcare Falls are a significant
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Running Head: REDUCING HEALTHCARE RELATED FALLS 1
NURS 4221
Reducing Healthcare Related Falls
Walden University
NURS 4221 Leadership Competencies in Nursing and Healthcare
Falls are a significant concern in health care settings that cost billions of dollars each year and
results in functional impairment, long-term pain, extended hospital stay, and mortality (Cameron I.
Gillespie L., 2016). Adults over the age of 65 are reported to be at the highest risk for falls, resulting
in premature admissions to nursing homes and assisted living alarms (Votruba, L. et al., 2016). I
decided to do my practicum on falls in older adult patients; I believe most falls can be prevented or
prevent injuries with falls. I believe that bedside staff nurses play a significant role and may
substantially impact reducing falls since bedside nurses are continually on the unit and have more
contact with patients.
Hospital leaders are under pressure to reduce falls significantly, and various hospitals have
implemented new protocols to tackle these incidents. On my work unit, at the beginning of each shift,
the charge nurse informs us which patients are fall risks; we also perform post-fall huddle with all the
nursing staff, the physician on duty, and the nursing supervisor to discuss what interventions were
implemented, and what new interventions should be placed to avoid future falls. There is also a fall
committee that holds monthly meetings and reviews fall data.
Many factors result in falls in acute care settings but identifying the patients at risk is one way
of reducing falls. Some of the common reasons for falls are altered mental status, polypharmacy,
surgical procedures, and impaired mobility. Hospitals utilize fall risk identification tools to alert staff
the patients at high risk, but this can provide a false reassurance for the patients not listed as a fall
risk. Older adults are at increased risk for falls with significant injuries; therefore, the goal is to
reduce or eliminate falls. To achieve this goal, hospitals need to utilize personal sitters more or
, include supportive family and friends for these elderly patients; familiar faces and frequent re-
orientation are required until they get more comfortable with the room or unit.
Measurement of a problem is essential for the improvement of the problem.
Measuring fall rates and fall-related injuries are a crucial indicator of the success level in making
patients safe from falls. An interview I conducted with my superiors enlightened me on the
measurement method for falls in the facility.
Measurement of falls involved counting the number of falls and the number of occupied beds
in a given facility division during a particular chosen period (AHRQ, n.d.). A measure of falls can be
done in the facility's divided units every month to gauge the situation's rate of improvement. The
supervisors revealed that the facility's measure of falls is done monthly, and the facility is divided
into units and assigned to different nursing practitioners. The number of repeat falls also counted
since they affect the actual number of falls in a given unit if a single patient experiences several falls
(Chiu et al., 2018). Each fall is recorded along with the severity of the fall regarding the level of
injury incurred (AHRQ, n.d.). Therefore, this data helps track the rate of severe falls and is a measure
of the falls that occur in the facility. Tracking the number of dangerous falls is also a measure of falls
combined with the fall rate to indicate the falls that occur in the facility according to number and
severity.
Challenges in obtaining the fall data include the lack of a clear cut regarding what
counts as a fall. Nurses, therefore, can overlook some falls and may also have incidences that would
instead not qualify to be a fall. Another challenge is under-reporting that may occur due to nurses
fearing that their performance might go way below that of nurses in other units (Cho & Jang, 2020).
The measurement of falls is taken and compared to the number of bed spaces in the facility. A
percentage is then calculated based on these parameters. An example of a fall study showed that the
incidences of falls in the facility were 1.2%, and 85.8% of the incidences involved patients older than
65. The measure also further indicates the gender distribution of the falls (Montejano-Lozoya et al.,
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