2017 Annual Nursing Report

Falls Reduction Efforts The challenge of fall prevention involves managing a patient’s underlying fall risk factors and optimizing the hospital’s physical design and environment. A 2017 focus for the Nursing Improvement and Clinical Excellence Council was evaluating how to minimize falls (and more importantly injuries related to falls). Elizabeth Ryan, Risk Manager, and Tara French, NICE Director Liaison, accomplished several operational changes to facilitate reductions in our inpatient falls. • Bed cables and Y-connectors for the bed nurse call button to interface with the nurse call system • During the renovations, new ceiling tiles were placed (one to every patient room) with “Call, Don’t Fall” printed in yellow above the bed • Patient Education brochures on falls developed and implemented house-wide • Review of case studies in NICE Council focusing on opportunities for nursing care improvement related to actual falls • Education to staff on patients at risk for falls and safe patient management processes • Revision and re-education of post-fall huddles With this increased attention to falls during 2017, there was a 26 percent reduction in inpatient falls and an eight percent reduction in the rate of patient injuries from falls. This was a positive outcome for our patients.

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