Nurse’s Duty in Fall Prevention especially in patients undergoing Hemodialysis Falls can happen at any time and place in a hospital setting. It is a major patient safety issue causing injury, distress and even death. According to Debra Hain (2012), “In 2010, there were 2.35 million emergency room visits for non-fatal injuries in older adults with over 25% requiring hospitalization” (pg. 251). Falls can interrupt a person’s quality of life but also have a financial effect on the healthcare system (Hain, 2012).
However, the number of falls in the hospitals increases at alarming rate in the nation. The hospitals try to implement more efficient intervention strategies, but the number fall increase instead of decrease. In fact, many interventions to prevent falls and fall-related injuries require organized support and effective implementation for specific at risk and vulnerable subpopulations, such as the frail elderly and those at risk for injury. Traumatic brain injuries, broken hips, loss of independence and death are some of falls' most serious outcomes (Williams, Szekendi, & Thomas, 2014). Therefore, we need fall prevention strategies and tools to define and measure falls.
Patients are directly affected by nursing burnout, as their life is being put in the hands of many health care professionals who may exhibit signs and symptoms of burnout. According to this article, it is proved that inadequate patient care is linked to burnout in clinicians, “The high-intensity natures of nurses’ work means that nurses themselves are at risk of committing errors while providing routine care,” (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2017). These specific errors can be represented as medication administration errors, which can have a fatal affect on the patient, especially in the critical care environment. Because of the many symptoms related to nursing burnout, it creates an overall condition that interferes with the nurses’ physical and cognitive ability to function to their normal capacity, resulting in effects on patient safety. As articles regarding the correlation between nursing burnout and patient safety suggest, “The majority of studies measuring burnout found that more errors were significantly associated with health practitioner burnout,” (Hall et al., 2016).
Assessment of Findings Nurse Staffing and Inpatient Hospital Mortality According to J. Needleman et al., “lower levels of staffing among registered nurses [in the hospital setting]” has shown an association with increased patient mortality. Scientists found that nurses experience a very high workload during their shift and this leads to “impairment on patient surveillance.” Nurses are given numerous patients during their single shift and are not able to balance the high patient turnover with proper patient care. High patient turnover was also associated with an increased risk for mortality rates. Scientists argue that hospitals are trying to cut health car... ... middle of paper ... ...P., Sloane, D. M., Lake, E. T., & Cheney, T. (2008). Effects of hospital care environment on patient mortality and nurse outcomes.
Tools scoring risk factors can be utilized. In long-term care, falls are the most dreaded events. Falls, especially those resultin... ... middle of paper ... ...geriatrics society, 60(5), 939-945. doi: 1532-5415.2012.03931.x Papas, E., & Cluxton, R. J. (2011). Vitamin D: beneficial for pain, fracture, and falls in long-term care residents?.
A study performed in the United States by Dr. Jeannie Cimiottti, shows that hospitals with high burn-out rates among nurses have higher levels UTI’s, and surgical infections (World, 2012). Nursing burnout not only affects the nurse, but it also affects the patient, the nurses’ colleagues, and the nurses’ family; nursing burn out often leads to emotional exhaustion and depression, that can effect relations and communication between the nurse effected and the person they are communicating with. This paper will cover what burn-out is, who is susceptible to burn out, and treatment and prevent nursing burn out. What is nursing burn-out? Burnout occurs when a person does not have effective coping skills to deal with the demands of the work they are performing; it is also said to be chronic stress caused by the high demands of a job.
During exacerbations of Congestive Heart Failure (CHF), older patients may receive care in multiple settings; often resulting in fragmented care and poorly-executed care transitions. The negative consequences of fragmented care lead to duplication of services; inappropriate or conflicting discharge instructions, medication errors, patient/caregiver anxiety, and increased costs of care. In light of changes in Medicare reimbursement penalizing hospitals with above set limits for heart failure (HF) readmissions, models of care are being evaluated for their effectiveness in satisfying this change as well as reducing fragmented care in this population. This paper reviews the Transitional Care Model created by Dr. Mary Naylor at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn Nursing Science, 2013). This model in introduces a patient-centered interdisciplinary team intervention designed to improve transitions across care settings.
Keeping patients safe is one of the highest priorities in health care. Accidental falls can cause unnecessary pain and suffering, increase mortality and morbidity, and increase the cost and length of stay in the hospital. “A fall is conceptualized as unintentionally coming to rest on the ground, floor, or other lower level.” If the patient lost balance and was lowered to the ground by a helper or was found on the ground, both the attended and unattended situations are considered a fall” (Tzeng & Yin, 2010, p. 267). Patients in psychiatric facilities are often at high risk for falls related to many factors including decreased mental status, acute psychosis and antipsychotic medications. “Studies assessing fall rates in inpatient services have demonstrated a higher frequency of falls on psychiatric units” (Lavsa, Fabian, Saul, Corman, & Coley, 2010, p. 1274).
Emergency departments of hospitals are fundamental in the treatment of time sensitive conditions such as acute stroke (Trzeciak & Rivers, 2003). A stroke occurs when there is an interruption of blood flow to brain tissue, and therefore is a condition that relies on apt and adequate access to healthcare (Panagos, 2006). Patients who have experienced a stroke will most often present to emergency departments in order to receive treatment (Kothari et al, 1998). However it has been found by Chan et al (2010) that approximately 48% of American hospitals are operating over capacity and therefore not providing satisfactory healthcare. Overcrowding can be defined as the overabundance of patients requiring treatment and may be attributable to the misuse of the emergency area by non-critical patients (Chan et al, 2010; Trzeciak & Rivers, 2003).
Therefore, many hospitals have looked for ways to implement interventions that will reduce the number of falls, because it is something that can be prevented to begin with. The articles that I have chosen for this paper reflect how hourly rounding has reduced falls in hospitalized patients. Significance The national fall rate is between 2.3-7.0 falls per 1000 patient days in hospitals, costing hospitals approximately an additional $4,200 per fall (Kalman, 2008). The numbers of falls that happen in hospitals are inevitable. They have caused injury and death for many patients while being hospitalized.