Date

8-24-2023

Department

School of Nursing

Degree

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)

Chair

Rachel Joesph

Keywords

fall, fall prevention, acute care, surgical oncology, medical oncology, oncology patients, oncology, fall education, national patient safety goals, reimbursement rates

Disciplines

Nursing

Abstract

Falls and fall-related injuries impact patients' health outcomes and are the most commonly reported adverse event in hospitals for patients over 65 years of age. This scholarly project was conducted to evaluate the effect of evidence-based education to the Registered Nurses and Certified Nursing Assistance in the medical and surgical oncology inpatient on reducing the number of patients falling. Retrospective reviews of patient fall rates, were conducted two months before the fall educational sessions, and prospective reviews were conducted after implementing fall education. Patient falls also affect reimbursement rates and, on average, increase a patient’s length of stay by about 6.3 days and increase undue patient harm. Therefore, fall precautions and interventions must be addressed to help decrease inpatient falls. Implementing fall education and interventions aligns with national patient safety goals, is a cost-savings topic related to possible decreased reimbursement rates, is aligned with the organization's strategic plan, and is considered a top-priority project. This scholarly project showed a statistical significance in knowledge gained about fall prevention and fall precautions when comparing the pre- and post-knowledge test given to the nurses and nursing assistants in the medical and surgical oncology units. However, this project did not show statistical significance in the fall rates pre- and post-education.

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