Statement Of The Research Problem
Patients aged 65 years and older are at higher risk of sustaining fall-related injuries during hospitalization. Studies have shown that 70% of hospital accidents are fall-related (Olrich, Kalman, & Nigolian, 2012). As such, falls have become one of the leading problems confronting healthcare organizations. With the growing number of fall incidents, patients fall has now been recognized as a quality indicator and have even been considered as nursing-sensitive quality indicator because they can be traced to the quality of nursing care (Hicks, 2015). With the negative outcomes arising from patients’ falls, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services no longer reimburse hospitals for the cost of additional care related to fall injuries (Tzeng, 2011). Thus, falls are not only viewed for the harm they caused the patients but also can be costly to both the patients and the hospitals (Choi, Lawler, Boenecke, Ponatoski, & Zimring, 2011). …show more content…
To this end, most hospitals have embarked on an intensive education and training of staff on the identified fall prevention program and strategies. However, fall prevention programs for hospitalized patients have shown limited success. Patients’ falls were still reported in spite of an on-going fall prevention program. Tzeng (2011) posited that barriers to the successful implementation of a fall prevention program are not just the lack of knowledge and skills, but also of the lack of caring attitude among the
Patients aged 65 years and older are at higher risk of sustaining fall-related injuries during hospitalization. Studies have shown that 70% of hospital accidents are fall-related (Olrich, Kalman, & Nigolian, 2012). As such, falls have become one of the leading problems confronting healthcare organizations. With the growing number of fall incidents, patients fall has now been recognized as a quality indicator and have even been considered as nursing-sensitive quality indicator because they can be traced to the quality of nursing care (Hicks, 2015). With the negative outcomes arising from patients’ falls, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services no longer reimburse hospitals for the cost of additional care related to fall injuries (Tzeng, 2011). Thus, falls are not only viewed for the harm they caused the patients but also can be costly to both the patients and the hospitals (Choi, Lawler, Boenecke, Ponatoski, & Zimring, 2011). …show more content…
To this end, most hospitals have embarked on an intensive education and training of staff on the identified fall prevention program and strategies. However, fall prevention programs for hospitalized patients have shown limited success. Patients’ falls were still reported in spite of an on-going fall prevention program. Tzeng (2011) posited that barriers to the successful implementation of a fall prevention program are not just the lack of knowledge and skills, but also of the lack of caring attitude among the