Sign Up Now
Get instant access to over 1 million+ study documents
OR
Already registered? click here to login
By creating your account, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and student honor code.
Abstract
Fall Prevention Post Anesthesia
Purpose
The projects goal was to develop a plan for the role of nurses as change agents to improve the prevention of patient falls in the Post Anesthesia Care Unit (PACU). The aim was to establish baseline knowledge and prior training regarding patient safety and fall prevention according to the post-anesthesia recovery unit protocol and educate staff on implementing strategies to reduce patient falls after surgery.
Background
Postoperative falls are rarely considered possible complications that should be accounted for in the clinical care practice after surgery. However, there is a considerable prevalence of postoperative falls in PACU and other post-surgery care units, such as patients' homes. Lam et al. (2016) posit that an overall 1.6% incidence of postoperative falls is based on a review of 5 years records of in-patient surgery procedures. The authors observe that successful management of surgery and anesthesia does not guarantee the absence of adversities and postoperative complications. Further, they observe the scanty studies on postoperative falls and suitable strategies to curb them is due to the low incidence of such cases that could make them statically difficult to detect. Notably, the falls occur in unexpected circumstances and locations after an operation, such as caregivers, at the bedside, and during the daytime. Consequently, 30% of falls necessitate surgical attention and additional medical attention (Lam et al., 2016). Patient falls after surgery is often caused by miscommunication in the handoff from the operation room to the nurses in PACU.
Since the effects of anesthesia post-operation are still unascertained, postoperative falls might also result from the lingering neuromuscular and pharmacological blocking effects of the...…support system for adopting the new change, such as guidance by the anesthesiologist and the Director of Nursing (DON) in the next three months.
Results
According to the post-anesthesia recovery unit protocol Tool and the assistive technologies, adopting the best practices helped create a safer environment for the patients prone to falling. These measures ensure hourly scheduled checkups and remote patient monitoring to ensure their safety, thus preventing falls.
Conclusion
Multi-disciplinary education of the OR and PACU nurses on the current post-anesthesia recovery unit protocol and best practices inclusive of monitoring equipment effectively prevent post-operation falls. This change aimed to eradicate the handoff procedure errors between these teams associated with most falls. Lewins Change Theory of change was critical to align the team's attitudes, perceptions, values, and behaviors as desired for installing the new system for fall prevention and aligning with…
References
Cuttler, S., Barr-Walker, J., & Cuttler, L. (2017). Reducing medical-surgical in-patient falls and injuries with videos, icons, and alarms. BMJ Open Quality, 6(2), e000119. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjoq-2017-000119
Lam, C., Hsieh, S., Wang, J., Pan, H., Liu, X., Ho, Y., & Chen, T. (2016). Incidence and characteristic analysis of in-hospital falls after anesthesia. Perioperative Medicine, 5(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13741-016-0038-z
Marquis, B., & Huston, C. (2020). Leadership roles and management functions in nursing (10th ed.). LWW.
Ortelli, T. (2018). AHRQ Resources for Preventing Falls in Hospitals. AJN, American Journal Of Nursing, 118(5), 63-64. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.naj.0000532835.08637.c7
EBP project with Implementation Plan and Evaluation Plan Picot Question: Among the geriatric population (P), how effective are discrete nursing interventions (I) as against a complex fall prevention initiative (C) for reducing inpatient falls (O) over a one-year period (T)? Falls among the elderly are one of the leading causes of incapacity and injury. For facilities which have a substantive amount of elderly patients, creating a plan to reduce falls is a
Hospital Falls Fall Prevention Falls are the leading cause of hospital related injuries in the United States. There are many surprising factors that affect patients in regards to hospital falls; they involve patients of all ages and over a range of different scenarios. As a result the fall incident rate has been the target of the academic world and professionals alike as inpatient falls are serious patient safety and quality issues. Fall
Patient Falls Preventing Patient Falls The primary goal of every hospital and care facility is the health and safety of their patients. While some problems, such as illness cannot be avoided, compounding illness with injuries can and should be avoided. Risks such as slipping, tripping, and falling while in the hospital are an increasing problem for hospitals. The purpose of this paper is to identify a preventable patient injury and suggest a
Patient Falls and Nursing PICO Question -- Among acute care patients on a Medical-Surgical Unit, does hourly rounding, as opposed to only setting the bed alarm, significantly reduce patient falls (at least by 50%)? Modern healthcare and nursing are more complex than ever before. The nurse's role is far more than simply an assistant, and requires the understanding and application of a large toolbox to deal with many different situations within the
patient falls in U.S. healthcare institutions is staggering. They increase insurance costs, staff pressure, and even more accidental injuries other than falls. Research has shown that there are a number of ways patient falls may be mitigated: more nursing rounds, patient exercise, and body awareness conditioning. Tai Chi is a Chinese martial art that is practices for both defense training and health benefits, as well as longevity. The overall