Decreasing Falls in Skilled Nursing Facilities
In this assignment, you will propose a quality improvement initiative from your place of employment that could easily be implemented if approved. Assume you are presenting this program to the board for approval of funding. Write an executive summary (750-1,000 words) to present to the board, from which the board will make its decision to fund your program or project. Include the following:
The purpose of the quality improvement initiative.
The target population or audience.
The benefits of the quality improvement initiative.
The interprofessional collaboration that would be required to implement the quality improvement initiative.
The cost or budget justification.
The basis upon which the quality improvement initiative will be evaluated.
You are required to cite a minimum of three peer-reviewed sources to complete this assignment. Sources must be published within the last 5 years, appropriate for the assignment criteria, and relevant to nursing practice.
Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required.
The sources I included were ones I used during my discussion posts about the topic
Decreasing Falls in Skilled Nursing Facilities
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Decreasing Falls in Skilled Nursing Facilities
Falls are a significant safety concern for many skilled nursing facilities in the United States of America (USA). In that light, a quality improvement initiative is crucial to design activities to analyze, monitor, and improve the health outcomes of older patients. Falls are common in the USA’s skilled nursing facilities, and about 0.8 million residents face this problem annually. One out of every three individuals who fall do it two or more times annually (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2019). In particular, falls have adverse consequences, particularly for the elderly population. They reduce an individual’s quality of life, such as those who experience hip fractures and make residents of the skilled nursing facility develop a fear of engaging in physical activities. On that note, the primary purpose of this quality improvement initiative is to decrease falls in a skilled nursing facility.
My quality improvement initiative focuses on a specific target population of older adults in the skilled nursing facility. These are individuals aged 65 years and beyond. Besides, the average age of residents in skilled nursing facilities in the USA is 82 years (Tricco et al., 2019). Aging impairs a person’s gait, strength, and balance. In addition, it decreases an individual’s vision, including acuity, sensitivity to glare, contrast sensitivity, night, and peripheral vision. Other people experienced reduced hearing sensitivity. All these changes among others contribute to higher risks of falling. In that light, if something is not done, falls among older adults will remain a significant issue in the skilled nursing facility. When numerous residents get fall-related injuries, it can become more challenging to improve their lives since they are less likely to engage in the activities that make their stay comfortable.
The proposed quality improvement initiative emphasizes several activities that will decrease falls among older adults in a skilled nursing facility. As such, it will be beneficial to implement these tasks. Notably, staff education and training are crucial so that nurses can identify the most vulnerable residents. Others include improving bed safety, proper pain management, regular monitoring using technological devices, and the use of protective clothing for the most vulnerable residents. The nursing facility should have low beds and floor mats for the residents. Using side rails is not a good option since those who might try to climb them can get severe fall-related injuries. The primary benefits of this quality improvement initiative are reducing falls and increasing the quality of life among older adults by negating the intrinsic and extrinsic risk factors that cause the problem. Some problems, such as dementia and cognitive impairment, lead to an increased risk of falls and cannot be prevented during old age (Cameron, Bowles, Marshall, & Andrew, 2018). As such, learning how to live with residents with such health conditions can significantly decrease the rate of falls.
A skilled nursing facility hires a broad rang...