Maggie, If the patient is being admitted to a skilled nursing or long term care facility, I would have chosen The Hendrich II Fall Risk Model. This model focuses on older adults in an acute care, ambulatory, assisted living, long-term care facilities, to help them identify the risk for falls and to develop a plan that would reduce the number of fall at their facility. The Hendrich II Fall Risk Model looks at twelve different risks factors, such as, based gender, the level of confusion of the patient, if the they suffer with depression, dizziness or vertigo, as well as, their current prescribed medication. When looking at the patient score if they are at 5 or greater, they are at a higher risk for falls and precautions should be taken, for…
According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (2013), approximately 900,000 cases of falls are reported every year from hospitals around the country. Some of these fall are with serious life threatening injuries. Unfortunately, the hospital is responsible to take on all these extra charges that frankly could have been prevented if all the strategies were in place. As healthcare providers, more can be done to keep patients safe. Implementing the fall prevention strategies is guarantee to decrease fall by 70% by the first…
Although multifactorial fall risk assessment and management programs seem to be a reasonable and appealing approach for preventing falls and fall related injuries in the elderly, it is not backed by strong evidence. Present evidence implies that it may decrease the number of falls in the elderly by only a minimal amount. Evidence of its effects on other outcomes as in the rate of falls and injuries is inadequate. Rigorous interventions that provide actions to address risk factors rather than evidence with referrals could be more effective.…
Summary of Article “Fall Prevention in Acute Care Hospitals” The purpose of this study was to determine if a fall prevention tool kit would decrease patient falls within a hospital using health information technology. The study used both quantitative and qualitative data. The Morse Fall Scale was the tool used, and it provides scores that range from (0-125 points) based off of six focal points. The focal points included recent fall history (25 points), presence of secondary diagnosis (15 points), need for ambulatory aid (0-30 points), receiving IV therapy (20 points), gait characteristics (0-20 points) and imparted mental status (15 points) (Dykes, Carroll, Hurley 2010).…
One way to provide best quality of care is to avoid fall incidents in the facility. As of year 2015, there were 120 residents in Kamehameha Nursing Home who suffered physical injuries because of falls. The aim of this paper is to perform fall risk and prevention needs assessment for Kamehameha Nursing…
Nurses must be able to critically think when assessing patients who are at risk fall, for example the type of medication that will be needed during that patient care, physical ability, mental status, changes to their environment and their disease process will play a major for the inventions that will be need to reduce the patient fall risks for within the hospital setting. Education of nursing staff must include fall prevention intervention strategies that will include collaboration from all department, modification of interventions, and evaluation of interventions as they are implemented throughout the…
The issue at hand is unsafe nurse to patient ratios. In efforts to improve nursing practice and patient outcomes, the Registered Nurse Safe Staffing Act (H.R. 2083/ S. 1132) which represents a balanced methodology for safeguarding acceptable RN (Registered Nurse) staffing. The RN Safe Staffing Act is endorsed by the American Nurses Associations (ANA), which embodies the concerns of 3.1 million registered nurses. This bill will force Medicare and hospitals to address unsafe staffing. BACKGROUND •…
What if hospitals begin turning away patients that have a high risk for fall? The high risk would include the elderly, especially Alzheimer’s, stroke patients who have balance problems, or the ones that are taking certain medications that could affect them physically. As part of the health care team, all patients are welcome and should not be turned away due to high risk for…
How Study to be Conducted This study will focus on protecting patients from fall and fall-related injuries after stroke in an Acute Rehab Unit. At first it would identify the patients who are at great risk of fall currently and after going back to the community. The Morse Fall Risk Assessment (MFA) tool will be used to initially identify fall risk patients in the unit. CDC’s Injury Center has created a tool kit, called STEADI (Stopping Elderly Accidents Deaths and Injuries).…
Purpose of Study or Research Focus The current rate for falls after orthopedic surgery is 1-3 falls per 1000 patients per day. These fall result in a financial loss for the hospitals as well as a decrease in the health and wellbeing of the patient (Clarke, Timm, Goldberg, & Hattrup, 2011). Hospitals employ numerous ways to determine if a patient is a fall risk. There are also many interventions used with the purpose of fall prevention.…
With the advancement of medicine and technology, it is evident that there is a growing elderly population in the developed countries such as the United States. Perhaps, some casually phrase it as the “baby boomers getting older.” My experience as a nurse taught me that despite developments in modern medicine, there are challenges such as elderly independence and prevention of falls along with the combination of polypharmacy and multiple comorbidities posing as risks. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states that 2.5 million people, with ages 65 and older, are treated in the emergency room for fall injuries (Center for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2013). Additionally, the CDC states that over 700,000 patients a year…
Abstract Patient safety is the absence of preventable harm to a patient during the process of health care and considered the cornerstone of high-quality health care. Nurses play an important role in that vital care. Nurses need to know what proven techniques and interventions they can use to enhance patient outcomes.…
Nurses need to identify patients at risk for falls by assessing them and providing them with the yellow fall risk bracelet. The orthopedic unit has many patients with mobility issues and needs assistance with care. Therefore, this paper is going to focus on assessment and communication. Nurses assess the patient fall risk by using the fall risk assessment tool; however, they are not always implementing the protocol. A patient who is post-op or a new admission is automatically at risk for a fall for twenty-four hours.…
Fall is one of the common problems in the hospital. It can be due to various reasons such as accident, related to medical condition such as vasovagal, dizziness related to postural hypotension or physical condition such as leg amputation, swollen or sore feet or negligence of the patient or carer including nurses. However, whatever is the cause of fall it can be reduced or prevented by appropriate assessment and interventions. In relation with the situation I experienced the incident can be prevented by proper assessment and good communication with the patient (Lovallo, Rolandi, Rossetti, & Lusignani, 2010).…
Prevention of Inpatient Falls Patient falls remain the most common adverse event in acute care facilities, with 2%-15% of hospitalized patients reported to fall at least once. Falls can lead to pain, loss of function, fear of further falls and even death (Tanaka, Sakuma, Ohtani, Toshiro, Matsumura, & Morimoto, 2012). An increased focus is being placed on inpatient falls because of morbidity, mortality, increased cost of care, and lack of reimbursement (Cumbler, Simpson, Rosenthal, & Likosky, 2013). The National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators (NDNQI) defines a fall as “an unplanned descent to the floor with or without injury to the patient” (Miake-Lye, Hempel, Ganz, & Shekelle, 2013).…