Date of Conferral
2021
Degree
Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)
School
Nursing
Advisor
Anna Valdez
Abstract
In the United States, older adults often experience fall events that may result in physical, mental, and financial hardship. Since the project site was experiencing a significant number of patient falls, a fall-prevention quality improvement (QI) program was implemented. Guided by the diffusion of innovation theory and the plan-do-study-act (PDSA) model, the purpose of this doctoral project was to evaluate the effectiveness of that program to determine if the monthly fall rate in the facility would decrease during the next 6 months. The project site provided deidentified data in the form of monthly fall-rate totals as collected from the long-term-care facility for 6 months before and after implementation of the QI program. Fall-rate data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and a monthly fall-rate control chart. A paired t test showed no significant statistical difference between the pre- and postimplementation fall rates. Data analysis of fall rates revealed a clinically significant increase in the number of falls post-project implementation, which indicated that the QI program was not effective in reducing falls in the project facility. Based on the findings of this project, revision of the QI project and auditing of staff compliance with QI interventions is recommended. The positive social change of the project was that it could reduce the fall rate. Positive social change from this project can be realized by applying the “act” part of the PDSA cycle to strengthen the existing QI program.
Recommended Citation
Ortego, Francis, "Reducing Fall Rates at a Long-Term-Care Facility" (2021). Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies. 10397.
https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/10397
