The Impact of Engagement Strategies on the Reduction of Patient Falls

Despite the availability of many fall prevention measures, many patients fall in U.S. hospitals each year. Experts view patient fall rates as the measure that can be most affected by a nurse-led, evidence-based intervention. The purpose of this quality improvement project was to implement and evaluate the impact of patient engagement strategies on patient compliance to fall prevention education and the reduction of falls. The quality improvement framework used for this project was the Iowa Model. Interventions for this project included patient engagement strategies including the teach-back (TB) method and video-based fall prevention education paired with the project site\u27s existing fall prevention program. A prospective quantitative design was used to answer the practice-focused question of whether the implementation of a falls protocol incorporating patient engagement strategies improves patient compliance with the fall prevention plan of care and reduces patient falls. A total of 58 patients were included in this project, conducted from July to October 2017. The results showed a 75% reduction in the fall rate compared to the same three month period in 2016. This finding suggests that reinforcement of oral and written instruction through video education follow-up and the use of the TB method to assess patient understanding are effective measures to reduce patient falls and increase patient compliance to the fall prevention plan of care. These patient engagement strategies can be replicated by nurses in similar acute care settings. Adoption of such evidence-based changes in nursing practice may improve patient safety and decrease harm in hospital settings as implications for positive social change