Geriatric Patient Falls Analysis

Phenomenon of Interest

The occurrence of falls within the geriatric population can be attributed to environmental exposures, physical changes, health conditions and above all medication. Undoubtedly, falls in the geriatric unit at the writer’s workplace is an alarming situation that is affecting the aged inpatient, families, staff and the organization as a whole. The geriatric inpatient services the older adults experiencing clinical depression, anxiety, severe forgetfulness, and other mental health problems. These health conditions make them susceptible to falls and the aftermath usually results in debilitating injuries, loss of independence and in most cases requiring the patient to be on one to one monitoring with a sitter.

Structure Measures

PCC comes to play in the event of a fall because the goal of the nurse is to restore the patient to an optimal level of wellness as defined by the patient (Anderson, 2015)). Nurses play a major role in fall prevention but it takes a team of professionals to be responsible for fall prevention. Hence the creation of the falls committee to determine the root course analysis of persistent falls in the facility. This structure constitutes the lens through which quality improvement work is viewed (Polancich et al., 2014). Even though the patient-centered care is not a checklist or an action plan, it requires a buy-in and commitment from all levels of an organization. It requires a long-term commitment, and willingness to routinely challenge the organizational norm of “that’s the way we’ve always done it” mentality. The goal of the fall committee is to come up with structured and individualize preventive measures and possible revision of

After a fall, the nurse assesses the patient to identify the impact and whether a significant injury is present. Corrective measures are introduced, treatment plans are reviewed and modified as necessary by the treatment team. The process measurement shows the variations in quality and is taking place in the “now” thus offering more immediate indications of quality care (Donabedian, 2003). Depending upon the aftermath, the level of observation might change to a more restrictive level. PCC comes to play into the event of a fall because the goal of the nurse is to restore the patient to an optimal level of wellness as defined by the patient (Butts & Rich, 2015). An incident report is initiated by the nurse after care has been delivered to the fallen patient; fall incident is evaluated, staff are educated and policies reviewed. The incident report is reviewed by the unit manager and forwarded on to fall risk management for deliberation at the next gathering. The goal of the fall committee is to come up with structured and individualize preventive measures and possible revision of