Plan for Preventing Patient Falls

Support for New Nurses

Problem: Patient falls are a common occurrence in the Emergency department, often resulting in injury and harm (Campbell et al., 2020). The problem is one that needs to be addressed particularly with new nurses, as falls tend to occur most frequently during shifts in which new nurses are working.

Quality improvement project: The Watch area is a good start, but it could be further developed into a full-fledged patient fall prevention program, using the PDSA (Plan-Do-Study-Act) model.

Plan: Develop a comprehensive patient fall prevention program for all new nurses in the Emergency department, using the Watch area as the starting point. This plan should include the following steps:

1. Conduct a thorough analysis of the current patient fall data, to understand the causes and contributing factors.

2. Develop evidence-based best practices and protocols for preventing patient falls, taking into account the results of the data analysis.

3. Train all staff members, including nurses, aides, and physicians, on the new patient fall prevention protocols and best practices.

Do: Implement the new patient fall prevention program in the Watch area, and monitor and document the results.

Study: Evaluate the effectiveness of the new patient fall prevention program by reviewing the data on patient falls, including the number of falls, the causes of falls, and the types of injuries sustained for new nurses for six month period.

Act: Based on the results of the evaluation, make any necessary modifications to the program, and roll it out to other areas of the Emergency department as needed.

By using the PDSA model, we can ensure that the patient fall prevention program is well planned, implemented, and evaluated, and that it is based on the best available evidence (Fridman, 2019). This will help to ensure that patients receive the highest quality care and are protected from harm.