Fall Prevention Practices: A Case Study
Evaluation
1. Describe what data you need to gather in order to assess the change plan.
Data will be obtained from human resources/risk management regarding the number of patient falls, and number of staff injuries, adjusted for census, that were due to patient transfers. This includes information from incident reports and industrial injuries reports. A reduction in both the number of injuries and days offs as a result of those injuries, as well a reduction in the number of patient falls during transfers would be expected in a successful program. “The best measure of falls is one that can be compared over time within a hospital unit to see if care is improving. Sometimes staff would like to simply track the number of falls that occur every …show more content…
month or every quarter on a given unit. The problem with only tracking falls is that this does not account for how full or empty the unit was at any given time. If the unit census is running low, there will be fewer falls, regardless of the care provided” (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2013).
2. Describe the methods used to gather and assess data in order to determine whether or not the change plan is accomplishing the desired outcomes, and to what extent.
“A basic principle of quality measurement is: If you can't measure it, you can't improve it.
Therefore, fall rates and fall prevention practices must be counted and tracked as one component of a quality improvement program” (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2013). Data described above would undergo statistical analysis including a t-test to determine if there is a significant difference in the number of falls that occurred prior to and after the implementation of the change process. “The t-test assesses whether the means of two groups are statistically different from each other. This analysis is appropriate whenever you want to compare the means of two groups, and especially appropriate as the analysis for the posttest-only two group randomized experimental design” (Research Methods Knowledge Base, …show more content…
2006).
3. Identify at what points the change plan is assessed, and provide rationale for why the change plan is assessed at these points.
“examine your rates every month and look at the trend over time” (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2013). In order to measure success of the program it will be necessary to collect data for a time of about six months prior to the initiation of the program and lasting until six months after the program has ended. It is then important to have an ongoing monitoring the fall rates to see if there are any changes and what is the cause of this rise or fall in rates.
Dissemination
4. Identify which stakeholders will be included in the dissemination of information, and what information they will receive.
All of the stakeholders must be included in the dissemination but they do not all need the same level of information.
“They use various techniques to communicate evidence so that target audiences can understand it better” (Agency for Health Care Research and Quality, 2012). So while some may get a full report with all of the statics, others, like nursing staff, may only get broader results, with a notice that if they want the full study it will be available upon request.
5. Determine how the information will be presented to both internal and external shareholders.
There are different types of dissemination; dissemination for understanding and dissemination for awareness. Nursing personnel, [hysicians, and general staff will receive, “Dissemination for Awareness; It can be assumed that, at the very least, you wish people to be aware of the work of your project. This may be useful for those target audiences that do not require a detailed knowledge of your work but it is helpful for them to be aware of your activities and outcomes. Creating such an awareness of your project’s work will help the “word of mouth” type dissemination and help you build an identity and profile within your community” (Harmsworth & Turpin,
2006)..
Members of the hospital administration will receive information that can be considered, “ Dissemination for Understanding; There will be a number of groups/audiences that you will need to target directly with your dissemination. This will be because you believe that they can benefit from what your project has to offer. It will be important, therefore, that these groups/audiences have a deeper understanding of your project’s work” (Harmsworth & Turpin, 2006).
1. Describe what data you need to gather in order to assess the change plan.
Data will be obtained from human resources/risk management regarding the number of patient falls, and number of staff injuries, adjusted for census, that were due to patient transfers. This includes information from incident reports and industrial injuries reports. A reduction in both the number of injuries and days offs as a result of those injuries, as well a reduction in the number of patient falls during transfers would be expected in a successful program. “The best measure of falls is one that can be compared over time within a hospital unit to see if care is improving. Sometimes staff would like to simply track the number of falls that occur every …show more content…
month or every quarter on a given unit. The problem with only tracking falls is that this does not account for how full or empty the unit was at any given time. If the unit census is running low, there will be fewer falls, regardless of the care provided” (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2013).
2. Describe the methods used to gather and assess data in order to determine whether or not the change plan is accomplishing the desired outcomes, and to what extent.
“A basic principle of quality measurement is: If you can't measure it, you can't improve it.
Therefore, fall rates and fall prevention practices must be counted and tracked as one component of a quality improvement program” (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2013). Data described above would undergo statistical analysis including a t-test to determine if there is a significant difference in the number of falls that occurred prior to and after the implementation of the change process. “The t-test assesses whether the means of two groups are statistically different from each other. This analysis is appropriate whenever you want to compare the means of two groups, and especially appropriate as the analysis for the posttest-only two group randomized experimental design” (Research Methods Knowledge Base, …show more content…
2006).
3. Identify at what points the change plan is assessed, and provide rationale for why the change plan is assessed at these points.
“examine your rates every month and look at the trend over time” (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2013). In order to measure success of the program it will be necessary to collect data for a time of about six months prior to the initiation of the program and lasting until six months after the program has ended. It is then important to have an ongoing monitoring the fall rates to see if there are any changes and what is the cause of this rise or fall in rates.
Dissemination
4. Identify which stakeholders will be included in the dissemination of information, and what information they will receive.
All of the stakeholders must be included in the dissemination but they do not all need the same level of information.
“They use various techniques to communicate evidence so that target audiences can understand it better” (Agency for Health Care Research and Quality, 2012). So while some may get a full report with all of the statics, others, like nursing staff, may only get broader results, with a notice that if they want the full study it will be available upon request.
5. Determine how the information will be presented to both internal and external shareholders.
There are different types of dissemination; dissemination for understanding and dissemination for awareness. Nursing personnel, [hysicians, and general staff will receive, “Dissemination for Awareness; It can be assumed that, at the very least, you wish people to be aware of the work of your project. This may be useful for those target audiences that do not require a detailed knowledge of your work but it is helpful for them to be aware of your activities and outcomes. Creating such an awareness of your project’s work will help the “word of mouth” type dissemination and help you build an identity and profile within your community” (Harmsworth & Turpin,
2006)..
Members of the hospital administration will receive information that can be considered, “ Dissemination for Understanding; There will be a number of groups/audiences that you will need to target directly with your dissemination. This will be because you believe that they can benefit from what your project has to offer. It will be important, therefore, that these groups/audiences have a deeper understanding of your project’s work” (Harmsworth & Turpin, 2006).