Date of Conferral
2020
Degree
Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)
School
Nursing
Advisor
Margaret Harvey
Abstract
Falls in a hospital setting are considered one of the most frequent, preventable adverse events that need to be addressed through the creation of safer environments. Nurses play a key element in the prevention and management of injuries related to falls. The focus question for this quality improvement initiative (QII) was whether an evidence-based QII program could reduce falls in the inpatient population. The objective of the project was to improve the practices related to fall prevention to reduce the number of inpatients falls. The change model of Kotter and the Preventing Falls in Hospitals: A Toolkit for Improving Quality of Care were used to implement the QII. The prevalence of falls from 1 month before the start of the project was compared to 1 month after the implementation of the falls program. The nurses were taught about the evidence-based interventions, the intentional hourly rounds, and the patients’ educations as well as administered the Fall Knowledge Test (Tool 2E) pre- and postimplementation. The interventions were implemented and the findings of the prevalence 3 months later show a significant decrease in the number of falls with 0 cases reported in November and December. Compared to the previous analysis, 53% (n = 8) of nurses recognized that meeting patients’ toileting needs decreases the risk for falls versus the pre-implementation result of 0% recognizing this action. The findings reinforce that a change in staff awareness was achieved, and the decrease in the incidence of falls reinforces the effectiveness of intentional hourly rounds and patient education. The results of this project may influence nursing administrators and other leaders to increase the application of fall prevention policies. The findings of this project promote a positive social change because the falls were reduced through the implementation of evidence-based interventions.
Recommended Citation
Mercado, Sheila J., "The Promotion of Safety and Quality in Fall Prevention" (2020). Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies. 8628.
https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/8628
