Implementation and Evaluation of a Falls Reduction Pilot

Kitchens, Jennifer

Monday, 18 November 2013

Jennifer Kitchens, MSN, RN, ACNS-BC, CVRN
Quality and Risk Management Department, Wishard Health Services, Indianapolis, IN

Learning Objective 1: The learner will be able to discuss how the falls reduction pilot will be implemented.

Learning Objective 2: The learner will be able to list three survey item themes included in the patient and staff evaluation surveys.

Problem: Falls are a key patient safety measure and can lead to increased injury, length of stay, and cost. Increasing patient and staff awareness is one way to reduce incidence of falls.

Purpose: The purpose is to implement and evaluate a fall pilot program on a medical-surgical unit.

Methods: The fall intervention selected for the pilot is a “Call don’t fall” sign that will be placed in the patients’ room and bathroom with the rationale of increasing patient and staff awareness via implementation of a visual reminder. The sign includes a picture and is written in both English and Spanish. Evaluation data is examination of fall rates pre- and post-implementation. Patient and staff surveys were designed to evaluate the fall intervention. The survey will be scored using a 4 point Likert scale (1=strongly disagree, 4=strongly agree, higher scores equaling a more positive response). Patient survey items include: noticing the sign in room/bathroom; ease of understanding; reminded/encouraged to ask for assistance; perception if received verbal instruction; reinforced what caregiver taught; satisfaction, and perception of effectiveness. Staff survey items include: noticing the sign in room/bathroom; perception of patients noticing and understanding the sign; perception if the sign helped remind/encourage patients to ask for assistance; use of the sign for patient education; satisfaction; perception of effectiveness; and primary shift worked. This pilot will be rolled out in one month. Staff nurse fall champions have been developed to assist with roll out, education, and survey data collection. Staff nurses have been educated on proper data collection procedure. Stakeholders have been contacted for feedback prior to implementation.

Future evaluation: Fall rates and survey responses will be evaluated monthly after pilot is initiated to evaluate effectiveness of the “Call don’t fall” sign. Changes will be made to pilot if indicated based on evaluation data.

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