Lack of Fall Prevention Education in Nurses

Introduction

Many healthcare facilities continue to experience cases of falls among people, especially patients. King et al. (2018) indicate that a third of falls can be prevented when nurses practice hospital safety operations. Falls have become common in hospitals, and nurses within the facility have been unable to prevent this because of a lack of effective education. The current paper examines how the lack of education among nurses contributes to their inability to prevent falls within hospital facilities.

The Focus of the Problem

In the facility, many nurses attending to the clients have limited information on how to prevent falling, and this explains the number of falls recorded. From the survey conducted over the last three months, on average, 25 falls are recorded within the facility every month (Shaw et al., 2020). According to Shaw et al. (2020), education is employed as part of a multifactorial intervention applied in many fall prevention programs. The project’s primary focus is on the lack of education among nurses and how this causes difficulty in preventing falls in the hospital facility.

The Setting of the Problem

The change proposal will be undertaken in the injury department unit setting at St Joseph Regional Medical Center. This area is concerned with receiving complaints from clients who experience falls within the facility, especially those experiencing lacerations, fractures, and internal bleeding. The need is to understand how nurses have failed to prevent these falls and establish whether this is due to a lack of education among them (Chu, 2017). Nurses need to learn to ensure they comply with established standards and regulations.

Detailed Description of Project Topic

In the survey, a significantly unique trend was observed where the number of falls among clients visiting the hospital was skyrocketing. The complaints in the injury response department were being reported on almost a daily basis or at an interval of two days a case could be filed. A review of the research by Heng et al. (2020) indicated that falls often occur when healthcare professionals are not keen on helping guide clients. It was based on the conclusion that the behavioral change model and principles of good education design will be developed (Koh et al., 2018). The model will serve an effective purpose to prevent falls and facilitate the improvement of nurses.

Effect of Identified Problem

The problem of lack of education among nurses towards preventing falls is significant enough. It is likely to increase the complications of patients, especially those already with injuries (Alert, 2018). Montejano-Lozoya et al. (2020) established that older people are most at risk of falling. They experience more pain when they fall, which increases their chances of infections.

Significance and Implications of the Topic for Nursing Practice

The project contributes to the improvement of the patients’ outcomes considering that measures will be taken to help advance the education of nurses. The hospital administrators are responsible for providing nurses with information considered appropriate about patients’ fall risks so that safety standards are established and falls prevented (Park et al., 2019). Hence, this information will be significant to administrators and nurses.

Proposed Solution to Problem and Implications for Nursing Practice

The proposed solution is to improve the education of nurses when it comes to preventing falls. This involves training of nurses on the standards and skills of operation to limit the possibilities of patients falling from beds. (Aguwa, 2019). Similarly, the administrators need to assist nurses in translating the information they have on the fall prevention in order for them to put into practice.

Conclusion

The issue of cases of falls increasing in our facility is of great concern, and lack of education among nurses to prevent these cases is a major contributor. Significant research has established the need to have nurses aware of measures to keep patients safe around the bedside. By focusing on this problem, the project will make suggestions of the changes that will enhance the outcomes of patient care.

References

Aguwa, H. (2019). Nursing Education to Prevent Resident Falls in Long-Term Care. International Journal of Public Health, 19(24), 621.

Alert, S. E. (2018). Preventing falls and fall-related injuries in health care facilities. The Joint Commission, 55, 1-55.

Chu, R. Z. (2017). Preventing in-patient falls: The nurse’s pivotal role. Nursing2020, 47(3), 24-30.

Heng, H., Jazayeri, D., Shaw, L., Kiegaldie, D., Hill, A. M., & Morris, M. E. (2020). Hospital falls prevention with patient education: A scoping review. BMC geriatrics, 20, 1-12.

King, B., Pecanac, K., Krupp, A., Liebzeit, D., & Mahoney, J. (2018). Impact of fall prevention on nurses and care of fall risk patients. The Gerontologist, 58(2), 331-340.

Koh, S. S., Manias, E., Hutchinson, A. M., Donath, S., & Johnston, L. (2018). Nurses’ perceived barriers to the implementation of a fall prevention clinical practice guideline in Singapore hospitals. BMC Health Services Research, 8(1), 1-10.

Montejano-Lozoya, R., Miguel-Montoya, I., Gea-Caballero, V., Mármol-López, M. I., Ruíz-Hontangas, A., & Ortí-Lucas, R. (2020). Impact of nurses’ intervention in the prevention of falls in hospitalized patients. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(17), 6048.

Park, B. M., Ryu, H. S., Kwon, K. E., & Lee, C. Y. (2019). Development and effect of a fall prevention program based on the King’s Goal Attainment Theory for fall high-risk elderly patients in long-term care hospital. Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing, 49(2), 203-214.

Shaw, L., Kiegaldie, D., & Farlie, M. K. (2020). Education interventions for health professionals on falls prevention in health care settings: A 10-year scoping review. BMC Geriatrics, 20(1), 1-13.

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