Fall Prevention in the Inpatient Setting

Fall Prevention in the Inpatient Setting Abstract This project focuses on patient and family fall prevention education through an educational brochure. 4South is a mixed medical/surgical and medical/surgical-telemetry unit, specializing in dialysis and stroke patients. Since January 2017, there has been eight falls on the unit. The project’s objective is to decrease the number of falls in 4South by 50% by the end of the 4th quarter 2017. An identified weakness was inconsistent patient and family education. The CNL roles of data analyst and clinician were utilized. With the feedback from the Fall Task Force committee, an educational brochure was created that specifically addresses the fall risk identification and prevention measures used on the unit. During the months of August and September, the plan is to share the brochure via daily staff huddles, staff meetings, and unit champions. The pilot is to start in October and continue through December. The goal of decreasing the number of inpatient falls by half by the end of the year is expected to be accomplished. The brochure will allow bedside clinicians to provide standard, consistent education. In addition, patients will feel empowered to play an active role in fall prevention