Implementering av ny praksis – hvilke faktorer er av betydning for at sykepleiere skal gjennomføre standardiserte tiltakspakker for å redusere fallrisiko i spesialisthelsetjenesten?

Background: Fifty percent of patients over 65 years fall at least once a year, and 5-10 % of these are seriously injured. Injuries from falls lead to increased morbidity, increased mortality and prolonged hospital stay, in addition to an increased need for primary health services after discharge from hospital. The Norwegian patient safety program “I trygge hender 24/7” (In safe hands 24/7), demands screening of all hospitalized patients over 65 and those with deceases and/or conditions that involve the risk of falling. Comprehensive resources are used to improve patient safety. Still up to 70 % of all attempts to improve practice in hospitals do not provide lasting results. Studies show that up to 70% of all attempts at implementing new practices in hospitals do not provide lasting results. Aims: This study aims at exploring what factors nurses emphasize for implementing screening of patients in hospitals to reduce the risk of falling. Method: Individual interviews of nine nurses on two wards in the same hospital were conducted. Both wards were selected for their high degree of screening the risk of falling of the in-patients. Data is collected and analyzed qualitatively with systematic text condensation as a method. Results: The present study found six areas emphasized by nurses as important to conduct the screening of risk of falling. The factors found are highlighting of the improvement area, measurements of indicators for the area, work environment, experienced patient-fall, training in the focus area and promoters. The nurses in the study disclose that these factors affect them both individually and as a group. Discussion: The factors found in this study are in accordance with findings in other studies, or one finds support in theoretical approaches. The factors described contributes a knowledge of how nurses relate to different factors that they emphasize as important for implementing fall prevention as described in the Norwegian Patient Safety Program. The description of these factors may be relevant input to managers or others who initiate or implement initiatives to improve quality improvement in general or fall prevention in particular