Inpatient Falls: Prevention Strategies for Patient Safety - Annotated Bibliography

Miake-Lye, I. M., Hempel, S., Ganz, D. A., & Shekelle, P. G. (2013). Inpatient fall prevention programs as a patient safety strategy: a systematic review. Annals of internal medicine, 158(5_Part_2), 390-396.

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Patient falls an issue of concern for healthcare providers as it is common for inpatient patients. The number of patients' falls can be decreased through safety strategies such as educating the patients and the staff, a risk sign on the bedside, alert wristband, and choice of appropriate footwear. These fall prevention programs are cost-effective as they do not require the purchase of expensive equipment or hiring new staff.

Reeves, S., Clark, E., Lawton, S., Ream, M., & Ross, F. (2017). Examining the nature of interprofessional interventions designed to promote patient safety: a narrative review. International Journal for Quality in Health Care, 29(2), 144-150.

Patient safety is a priority for health workers, and they achieve by employing safety care measures. One of the causes of patient falls is the lack of effective communication and teamwork between healthcare professionals. Healthcare facilities have come up with interventions for improving collaboration and teamwork. For example, hospitals are adopting the use of tools that facilitates the handover of critical information. Professionals should relay information about patients who cannot support themselves so that they can be assisted whenever they want to get out of the beds.

Currie, L. (2008). Chapter 10. Fall and injury prevention. Patient safety and quality: An evidence-based handbook for nurses. AHRQ Publication, (08-0043).

In the United States of America, people older than 65 years fall and sustain injuries. Approximately 32 percent of the people of this population fall each year, and the majority are females. Some of these accidental falls cause death, and the cases have been increasing. These deaths can be significantly decreased by ensuring that there are no slippery floors, and patients are assisted in getting out of the beds. In case a patient has fallen injured, the risk assessment should be conducted immediately and treated administered.

Khalifa, M. (2019). Improving Patient Safety by Reducing Falls in Hospitals among the Elderly: A Review of Successful Strategies. Studies in health technology and informatics, 262, 340-343.

Reducing patient bedside falls an issue addressed by facilities, especially those offering services to the elderly. One of the evidence-based strategies is educating the staff as well as the patients on the cautions they need to take. Patient training is another strategy that is effective as it helps in strengthening the muscles through exercise as well as promoting balance, thereby reducing falls.

Barker, A., Kamar, J., Tyndall, T., & Hill, K. (2013). Reducing serious fallrelated injuries in acute hospitals: are lowlow beds a critical success factor?. Journal of advanced nursing, 69(1), 112-121.

Rating preexisting conditions that affect stability and vision can also significantly help in reducing falls. The health workers can also help by ensuring that the environment is risk-free, for example, by ensuring that the floors are not slippery. Low beds should also be used for the patients at risk of falling. For the patients with bone conditions, the facility can assist by facilitating hip protectors that they should be asked to wear all the time.

Karlsson, M. K., Magnusson, H., von Schewelov, T., & Rosengren, B. E. (2013). Prevention of falls in the elderly-a review. Osteoporosis International, 24(3), 747-762

Patients who are above 65 years old are highly likely to sustain injury falls. Some of these falls result in fractures as well as on the soft tissues. One of the interventions that have been proved effective in reducing patient falls. One of these strategies is regular physical training to boost balance. And strengthen muscles. Also, the patients are given antislip shoes as well as being given vitamin D supplements.

Graban, M. (2016). Lean hospitals: improving quality, patient safety, and employee engagement. CRC press.

The article talks of the dangers that patients face with patient fall, and it gives views on measures that can be taken to reduce patient falls. The patient falls a common incident in American hospitals, causing injuries to patients. The resource is important in addressing patient safety at health facilities by reducing patient falls that reduce the quality of healthcare provided in health facilities. Patient safety is the key to improving healthcare.

Kiani, M. J. E. (2016). U.S. Patent No. 9,226,696. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

The article highlights the challenges faced by health facilities in improving the quality of health provided to patients. Hospitals need to be financed to be able to improve the facilities and, in turn, increase the safety of the employees. Lack of finance is a major challenge in healthcare. Health facilities are forced to increase the prices of accessing healthcare to patients, which in turn reduces the number of patients that are able to access healthcare services.

Johnston, M., & Magnan, M. A. (2019). Using a fall prevention checklist to reduce hospital falls results in a quality improvement project. AJN the American Journal of Nursing, 119(3), 43-49.

The article talks of the various interventions that have been taken by health facilities to support the sustainability of improvement initiatives that are being implemented in healthcare. Prevention is the only way to deal with the challenges brought by the lack of safety in health facilities. More nurses need to be employed with better beds being made to reduce patient falls. Patients also need to be involved in finding patient safety in hospitals.

Godlock, G., Christiansen, M., & Feider, L. (2016). Implementation of an evidence-based patient safety team to prevent falls in inpatient medical units. Medsurg Nursing, 25(1), 17.

Developing a common safety protocol for all the medical facilities and facilities to follow in improving patient safety. There is a challenge in a guideline that all the stakeholders in healthcare are supposed to follow. The article advocates for universal measures that will be followed by all health facilities in increasing patient safety. It's easier to implement a common protocol that leaving health facilities to come up with their own measures.

Bastan, M., Grosser, S., & Zadfallah, E. (2018). Model-based risk assessment to clinical risk management policies. In The 36th International Conference of the System Dynamics Society, Reykjavik, Iceland.

There are international practices in terms of managing healthcare that has seen a reduction of health challenges affecting the healthcare sector. There are different kinds of patients that seek treatment at the health facilities; hence patients need to be sorted depending on the type of illness they are suffering from. The number of patients that can be allowed to stay in the same room needs to be determined by whether the hospital has the capacity to handle the separation.

Padula, W. V., Pronovost, P. J., Makic, M. B. F., Wald, H. L., Moran, D., Mishra, M. K., & Meltzer, D. O. (2019). Value of hospital resources for effective pressure injury prevention: a cost-effectiveness analysis. BMJ quality & safety, 28(2), 132-141.

The management of resources that the health facilities get influences the safety of the health facilities. Effective management ensures that resources are used effectively in improving the facilities and care of patients. Health facilities lack enough resources hence utilizing the limited resources for the right purpose. Injuries need to be prevented because they will increase the costs used in treating the injuries. Proper utilization of resources will reduce challenges faced by health facilities.