Order Number |
rekub8784956 |
Type of Project |
ESSAY |
Writer Level |
PHD VERIFIED |
Format |
APA |
Academic Sources |
10 |
Page Count |
3-12 PAGES |
Introduction
Patients experiencing falls while in a health care setting are largely preventable risks, and many health care facilities have implemented compliance and risk management plan to minimize the chance of a fall occurring by any hospitalized individual. Compliance and risk management plans are implemented to prevent an occurrence of something that has identified precursors and can be avoided in most cases if they are adhered and implemented.
This paper will identify a particular institution’s fall risk management plan and compare it with the corresponding risk management plan of a federal institution intended to provide plans to hospitals and facilities nationwide to continue to provide evidence-based practices in prevention of patient falls.
This institution, Hahnemann University Hospital, will present as an institution that follows the federal regulations and standards in regards to fall prevention risk management, as their plan closely resembles that of a nationwide accrediting agency’s standards and more.
The risk management plan chosen is the Falls Prevention and Resource plan from Hahnemann University Hospital. This plan is lengthy and very considerate of the federal and state mandates about this aspect of health care risk management.
It includes the purpose of the plan, definitions and risk factors to falls, followed by the policy of the hospital and the procedures in regards to prevention, actions in the case of a fall, and the post-fall care of the patient, as well as who to notify and who to send reports of the fall to (Hahnemann University Hospital, 2013).
This facility is a large hospital with over 400 patient beds, numerous staff, and serves a large population of younger adults due to its university affiliation. The purpose of risk management in a hospital setting is to set standards for all employees to work by and to educate the employees on patient safety policies and procedures if patient safety is not maintained.
“Fall related injuries occur in 15% to 50% of the patients, including major injuries such as fractures or lacerations in 1% to 10%” (Schwendimann, Buhler, et al.) Falls are a nearly entirely preventable issue in all hospitals that cause a huge liability risk for hospitals, as well as injury and suffering for the patients who experience falls while being admitted in hospitals worldwide.
One thing that not many have implemented is asking the staff what their current knowledge of fall risk and importance of preventing falls is. Although the Hahnemann University Hospital’s fall risk prevention plan meets all local, state, and federal guidelines, adding additional measures to prevent falls would further decrease the occurrence.
According to Elderly Falls Prevention Legislation and Statutes, 2018, is planned for the falls among elderly American people aged over 65 years; that one among the four elderly adults fall during the year. That statistic is staggering and only accounts for those over the age of 65.
The Joint Commission is an agency that surveys and provides accreditation to health care facilities nationwide-with this accreditation; the facility is then stating that they are following a specific set of evidence-based standard practices that encourage the highest levels of patient safety, including inpatient, falls.
Some of these rules and procedures created by The Joint Commission, such as the health care organization evaluating the patient’s possibility of falls, and effecting interventions to prevent falls from evaluation of risks of patients of falling. Individuals in the hospital needed to follow with the standards stated in the Hahnemann Risk Management Falls Prevention and Resource manual for Hahnemann University Hospital.
In addition to these standard risk assessment protocols stated by The Joint Commission, Hahnemann University Hospital has included multiple additional steps in both prevention and the handling after a fall incident, to add to patient safety protocols (Sentinel Event Alert #55:Preventing falls and fall-related injuries in health care facilities).
According to study of Pozgar, 2014, he argued that a risk-management platform aimed to diminish the number of patient injuries and injury precursors in the health organization and reduce lawsuits taken against the organization. Risk management programs are composed of both national standards by federal and state agencies, accrediting agencies, and individual hospital staff based on the patient population they serve.
In the US, hospitals are monitored by their accrediting agencies, ensuring that the hospital follows standards of practice that maintain patient safety at an acceptable level based on research and evidence-based practice gathered from many institutions nationwide. Although falls may not be able to be entirely prevented, maintaining standards of practice based on a risk management program could still help.
The falls cannot be prevented 100% but their occurrence rate can be minimized. If this is not possible the outcomes of falls such as injury can be reduced or minimized (Oliver, 2007). With this in mind, certifying agencies like The Centers for Medicare Services and The Joint Commission routinely survey facilities they’ve given accreditation to, to ensure that these facilities are practicing within their set of standard patient safety measures regularly.
If a facility does not do this, they face suspension of their accreditation, probation with intent to fix the problem, or even full surrender of their accreditation. Losing their status with these accrediting agencies could mean loss of payment for services by Medicare/Medicaid, loss of government funding, and potentially, bankruptcy and closure. However, these risks are worth it when compared to ensuring the patients being treated are safe from trips, slips, and falls that could cause injury or death (Oliver, 2007).
Both federal and state agencies with a risk management plan to ensure that dangerous falls that result in injury or even death are as prevented as can be, for the safety of the patient population they treat. In this paper, a particular hospital’s risk management plan for patient falls was identified, analyzed, compared, and evaluated based on the accrediting agencies, national, and state agencies standards set forth for managing the risk of patient falls in a healthcare setting.
The Hahnemann University Hospital’s fall risk assessment management plan is above beyond the requirements of the state, federal, and other agencies. It covers all aspects of patient safety in regard to fall risks, and fall risk mitigation. There is only a few items that could be of value to their fall risk plan, as viewed on the article of Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s (AHRQ) Preventing Falls in Hospitals Roadmap (Roadmap, 2013) that Hahnemann could make use of.
One of these items is “Determine staff knowledge about fall prevention” (Roadmap, 2013). This is something often overlooked, something in the foundation of fall risk precautions, but vital to the education and understanding of the staff nurses and aides.
Knowing what your staff knows gives a facility or supervisor a place to start with fall risk education, instead of assuming every staff member needs to start at the same place. Another item is setting up goals for enhancement based on consequences (Roadmap, 2013). It gives a facility a way to measure progress and ensure change is taking place in a vital area.
Both federal and state agencies with a risk management plan to ensure that dangerous falls that result in injury or even death are as prevented as can be, for the safety of the patient population they treat. In this paper, a particular hospital’s risk management plan for patient falls was identified, analyzed, compared, and evaluated based on the accrediting agencies, national, and state agencies standards set forth for managing the risk of patient falls in a healthcare setting.
The Hahnemann University Hospital should implement new regular routine assess knowledge of nurses and precautions implemented on falls risks managements. The overall staff of the hospital should adopt these changes to avoid individual injuries can results from falls. (Stenberg, Wann-Hanssen, 2011) (CPG=Clinical Practice Guideline).
The changes implementations should be monitored monthly and any issue should be handled by relevant staff before they become dominant in the health organization. The regulations and measures to deal will falls in health care, should be reviewed in a year to ensure they are effective. Housekeepers should have plans to prevent falls that results from slippery from slippery floors.
Risk management programs or plans are an incredibly valuable tool in the health care industry to promote patient safety and adherence to standards of care. In any health care facility, the patient falls a colossal problem that, although they may not be able to be entirely prevented, have many accrediting agencies.
Both federal and state agencies with a risk management plan to ensure that dangerous falls that result in injury or even death are as prevented as can be, for the safety of the patient population they treat. In this paper, a particular hospital’s risk management plan for patient falls was identified, analyzed, compared, and evaluated based on the accrediting agencies, national, and state agencies standards set forth for managing the risk of patient falls in a healthcare setting.
Conclusion
This institution, Hahnemann University Hospital, had a very comprehensive risk management plan for patient fall risk and not only complied with all required standards but achieved above-said standards, ensuring that their patient population was as safe from falls as could be. The risk plan identifies all predispositions to fall of individuals and proper measures are taken to eliminate the risks of falls in the organization.
References
Hahnemann University Hospital Policy. (2013). Retrieved from http://essentialhospitals.org/wp-
content/uploads/2013/11/Hahnemann_falls_policy.pdf
Oliver D. (2007). Preventing falls and fall injuries in hospital: a major risk management challenge. Clinical Risk, 13(5), 173–178. Retrieved from https://search-ebscohost- com.lopes.idm.oclc.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=105946050&site=eds- live&scope=site
Pozgar, G. D. (2014). Legal and Ethical Essentials of Health Care Administration (2nd ed.).
Roadmap. (2013, January 31). Retrieved October 5, 2019, from
https://www.ahrq.gov/professionals/systems/hospital/fallpxtoolkit/fallpxtkmap.html.
Sentinel Event Alert #55: Preventing falls and fall-related injuries in health care facilities. (n.d.).
Retrieved from
https://www.jointcommission.org/assets/1/6/SEA_55add_falls_requirements.pdf