Fall Prevention Project to Decrease the Rate of Inpatient Falls Executive Summary

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In this Fall Prevention Project to Decrease the Rate of Inpatient Falls Executive Summary assignment, you will propose a quality improvement initiative from your place of employment that could easily be implemented if approved. Assume you are presenting this program to the board for approval of funding. Write an executive summary (750-1,000 words) to present to the board, from which the board will make its decision to fund your program or project. Include the following:
The purpose of the quality improvement initiative.
The target population or audience. Fall Prevention Project to Decrease the Rate of Inpatient Falls Executive Summary

The benefits of the quality improvement initiative.
The interprofessional collaboration that would be required to implement the quality improvement initiative.
The cost or budget justification.
The basis upon which the quality improvement initiative will be evaluated.
Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required.
This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion. Fall Prevention Project to Decrease the Rate of Inpatient Falls Executive Summary.

 

Executive Summary

A Fall Prevention Project to Decrease the Rate of Inpatient Falls

Introduction

Falls are a significant public health problem and an obstinate problem within all healthcare settings, and especially acute care settings where the rate of falls causes approximately 30% of falls results to serious injuries (Cuttler et al., 2017). Falls are associated with increased healthcare costs; a prolonged period of hospital stay; and patient harm. Falls among hospitalized patients have serious consequences such as fractures, head injuries, lacerations, and even death. Evidence shows that approximately 85% of adverse events among inpatients are attributed to falls (Cuttler et al., 2017) Fall Prevention Project to Decrease the Rate of Inpatient Falls Executive Summary. Falls in hospital settings are preventable and thus this summary proposes a fall prevention project.

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The Purpose of the Quality Improvement

The proposed project aims to support the implementation of a fall prevention project in the organization. The second aim of the project is to increase awareness and knowledge about fall prevention in the healthcare organization. The proposed fall prevention program entails a fall care bundle and education that will include:

  • Performing fall-risk assessment for all patient during admission
  • Patient-centered active hourly rounding
  • Avoiding new night sedation
  • Ensure availability of suitable footwear for all inpatients
  • Re-educating the nursing staff on fall-risk assessment and hourly rounding to make them knowledgeable specialists and confident in their ward team (Dellinger., 2017) Fall Prevention Project to Decrease the Rate of Inpatient Falls Executive Summary.

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The Target Population

The proposed project targets older adult inpatients aged 65 years and above. Evidence indicates that falls are a top cause of death and injury among older adults and a major public health issue. About a third of individuals aged 65 years and over sustains fall annually, and the figure increases to more than 50 percent in people aged 80 years and over (Frieson et al., 2018). This shows that the incidence of falls is higher among older adults than their younger counterparts. Additionally, evidence strongly shows older adults sustaining falls are at a higher risk of morbidity and mortality, in comparison to the younger patients. This supports the rationale of the fall prevention project targeting older adults within the organization.

The Benefits of the Project

It is projected that the fall prevention program will be effective in reducing the rate of falls among hospitalized older adults. The program will also prevent harm and other complications allied to falls such as fractures, as well as other adverse effects such as reduced quality of life, disability, and even death. Lastly, the proposed project will significantly lower healthcare costs by reducing costs associated with treating and managing falls and decrease the length of hospital stay (Rau et al., 2014) Fall Prevention Project to Decrease the Rate of Inpatient Falls Executive Summary.

The Cost/Budget Justification

The economic healthcare costs the organization sustains during the treatment and management of falls are very significant. Falls among older adults enforce a major economic burden on the healthcare system. A study performed in a hospital in Florida indicated that the hospital saved $116,880.46 monthly after a fall prevention program was implemented. It is expected that the total cost of implementing the proposed fall prevention program will be $20, 000 and therefore the proposed project has the potential in saving significant healthcare costs for the organization (Haddad et al., 2019). This indicates that the costs involved in preventing falls are comparatively lower to the costs involved in the treatment of falls and the ensuing complications. This thus clearly shows that costs associated with the implementation of the proposed fall prevention project are much lower in comparison to the costs used in treating falls. This justifies the implementation of this project.

Project Evaluation

The proposed quality improvement project aims to improve patient safety and quality of care. An interprofessional disciplinary team made up of various professionals like nurses, physicians, orthopedics, as well as the quality improvement team will be responsible for the implementation of the fall prevention program in the geriatric ward and monitoring the progress of the program (Roberts et al, 2016).

To evaluate the progress and the efficacy of the project, data regarding the fall rate in the geriatric wards will be collected pre-project period (baseline data) and post-project period. This means that to inform the effectiveness and efficacy of the project; an assessment regarding the rate of falls will be performed before the project is implemented and after the project is implemented. The data will then be used to compare the fall rate before and after project implementation Fall Prevention Project to Decrease the Rate of Inpatient Falls Executive Summary. A reduced fall rate after the implementation of the project will demonstrate the efficacy of the fall prevention project in reducing falls in the target population. The impact of the fall prevention program and interventions such as fall-risk assessment and active hourly rounding will be re-assessed annually (Soban et al, 2017).

Summary

Falls are associated with increased healthcare costs; a prolonged period of hospital stay; and patient harm such as fractures, disability, and even death. The proposed project includes interventions such as fall-risk assessment for all older adults during admission; hourly rounding, educating nurses, among other interventions. The project targets the geriatric population admitted to the hospital. The planned project will significantly lower the fall rate and prevent the consequent adverse effects. Moreover, healthcare costs involved in the treatment of adverse effects resulting from falls will significantly reduce. The efficacy of the fall prevention project will be assessed by comparing the fall rate pre-project period and post-project period.

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References

Cuttler, S. J., Barr-Walker, J., & Cuttler, L. (2017). Reducing medical-surgical inpatient falls and injuries with videos, icons, and alarms. BMJ open quality, 6(2), e000119. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjoq-2017-000119.

Dellinger A. (2017). Older Adult Falls: Effective Approaches to Prevention. Current trauma reports, 3(2), 118–123. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40719-017-0087-x

Frieson, C. W., Tan, M. P., Ory, M. G., & Smith, M. L. (2018). Editorial: Evidence-Based Practices to Reduce Falls and Fall-Related Injuries Among Older Adults. Frontiers in public health, 6, 222. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2018.00222.

Haddad, Y. K., Bergen, G., & Florence, C. S. (2019). Estimating the Economic Burden Related to Older Adult Falls by State. Journal of public health management and practice: JPHMP, 25(2), E17–E24. https://doi.org/10.1097/PHH.0000000000000816.

Rau, C. S., Lin, T. S., Wu, S. C., Yang, J. C., Hsu, S. Y., Cho, T. Y., & Hsieh, C. H. (2014). Geriatric hospitalizations in fall-related injuries. Scandinavian journal of trauma, resuscitation and emergency medicine, 22, 63. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13049-014-0063-1. Fall Prevention Project to Decrease the Rate of Inpatient Falls Executive Summary

Roberts S, McInnes E, Wallis M, Tracey B, Banks M & Wendy C, 2016, Nurses’ perceptions of a pressure ulcer prevention care bundle: a qualitative descriptive study, BMC Nursing, 15(64).

Soban L, Kim L, Yuan A & Miltner R, 2017, Organizational Strategies to Implement Hospital Pressure Ulcer Prevention Programs: Findings from a National Survey, J Nurs Manag, 25(6), 457–467. Fall Prevention Project to Decrease the Rate of Inpatient Falls Executive Summary