Injuries and Deaths Resulting from Falls in Healthcare Facilities
In this assignment, students will pull together the change proposal project components they have been working on throughout the course to create a proposal inclusive of sections for each content focus area in the course. At the conclusion of this project, the student will be able to apply evidence-based research steps and processes required as the foundation to address a clinically oriented problem or issue in future practice.
Students will develop a 1,250-1,500 word paper that includes the following information as it applies to the problem, issue, suggestion, initiative, or educational need profiled in the capstone change proposal:
1.Background
2.Problem statement
3.Purpose of the change proposal
4.PICOT
5. Literature search strategy employed
6.Evaluation of the literature
7. Applicable change or nursing theory utilized
8.Proposed implementation plan with outcome measures
9.Identification of potential barriers to plan implementation, and a discussion of how these could be overcome
10. Appendix section, if tables, graphs, surveys, educational materials, etc. are created
Review the feedback from your instructor on the Topic 3 assignment, PICOT Statement Paper, and Topic 6 assignment, Literature Review. Use the feedback to make appropriate revisions to the portfolio components before submitting.
Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required.
This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.
You are required to submit this assignment to Turnitin. Please refer to the directions in the Student Success Center.
PLEASE USE ATTACHED 8 ARTICLES FOR REFERENCE IN LITERATURE REVIEW . USE ATTACHED PICOT STATEMENT FOR COMPLETION AND HELP. COMPLETE ABOVE 10 POINTS IN THE ASSIGNMENT.
PICOT Statement Paper
Student’s Name:
Institutional Affiliation
Date:
Falls in Healthcare Facilities
Background Information
Falls in nursing homes and other healthcare facilities occur repeatedly and frequently. Falls affect approximately 1,800 older people more because of their physical and cognitive impairment (Elnitsky at al., 2014). Older people suffer from fall-related injuries which may lead to their death and survivors of falls occasionally sustain head injuries and hip fractures that put them in wheelchairs and reduce the quality of their lives. Based on practical experience with patients while working in a care facility, the researcher will describe this problem, its impact, significance, interventions, and proposed solution to change practice to reduce this problem.
Problem Statement
Older people experience physiological and cognitive changes which makes them more prone to have fall incidence. Although people have been informed about this issue, the rate of injurious falls continues to increase, primarily because most people do not engage in physical activities as recommended. This is because these individuals have limited motivation which is the major contributor to less involvement in physical activities. According to Parell et al. (2001), the issue here is that after a fall and a severe injury, older people suffer extended length of hospital stay, augmented cost of hospitalization as well as prolonged recovery. Nonetheless, the health care system should educate as well as motivate older adults to involve themselves in physical exercises and activities more frequently and repeatedly.
Purpose of the Change Proposal
While working at Lincoln Glen skilled care facility, the focus of the researcher is on the main problem which is the falls among older people. According to Lincoln Glen Incident Report (2018), “8 fall incidences are reported in January, 7 cases in February, 10 falls in March, 11 in April and it is increased to 14 in the month of May.” In this paper, the researcher insists that physical activities and exercises involvement can play an important role in fall prevention.
PICOT
Population
The population for this study includes 55 patients aged 65-80 who stay in Lincoln Glen Skilled health care facility rehabilitation unit. 40 patients are scheduled for designed activities and exercises for a specific time, and 15 patients are not involved in any physical exercises and will serve as the control experiment. This is because older individuals are at higher risk for falls because of their mental and physiological changes and this can lead to severe injuries and even death among older people. NICE (2013) reports that an estimation that shows that 30 % of 65-year-old adults and 50% of 80-years-old people fall at least once a year.
Intervention
Physical exercises and activities bring about entertainment, health fitness, stability, improve mobility, and create independence. 40 patients (sample) will be involved in physical activities and exercises for 1 hour 5 day/week for three months. Nurses will be required to ensure their involvement in physical activities and monitor them (Wilkinson et al., 2018). Nurses will oversee a 10 minutes nutrition and self-management health lesson. Nurses will compare the statistics of those who participated and 15 patients who did not take part in the exercises and activities.
Figure SEQ Figure \* ARABIC 1: Intervention program at Lincoln Glen Skilled health care facility
Comparison
The comparison will be made against a control group/experiment comprising 15 older people of 65-80 years. These individuals are not expected to have improved physicality because they did not take part in the physical exercise intervention. Individuals involved in physical activities may have less fall incidence than people with a sedentary lifestyle. Older people with less involvement in physical activities have more chances of falls and injuries not only because of their age but also lack of using their physiological functions.
Outcomes
The desired outcome is to reduce fall incidence rates in the rehabilitation unit. Physical activity is a therapeutic method that enhances the physical ability and postural stability which is helpful in preventing falls (Nobrega et al., 2011). Evidence suggests that 50 hours in 3 months of exercises program for patients aged 65 or older is considered the most effective intervention for falls.
Time
The period is six weeks of their involvement in physical exercises for 1 hour in 5 days/ week in the skilled nursing rehabilitation unit. Data will be collected for the same period; (3 months). Three months and 50 hours will be sufficient in establishing the effectiveness of this intervention. Finally, this data will be compiled and analyzed to determine the project’s success.
Literature Search Strategy
Literature for this project will be reviewed in articles and other reading materials that are related to this topic. These articles present statistics relating to this issue. They also present intervention strategies and helpful recommendations for further actions and related studies.
Literature Review
According to Vlaeyen et al. (2017), falls are a common occurrence among the older population, accounting for more than 10% of emergency visits and hospitalization more among Medicare beneficiaries. Morris et al. (2016) add that falls are common but are preventable events. Several fall interventions programs like Podiatric interventions, integrating technological equipment into patient handling and movement, and 6-PACK program on falls as well as falls injuries in the acute wards have been proposed to act as fall prevention guidelines for best practices to minimize fall among the older population (Barker et al., 2016).
According to Peach, et al. (2016), “physical activities involvement of older people enhances their body strength and fulfills their desire for independence which leads to fall prevention.” Several articles advocate for evidence-based multidisciplinary intervention fall prevention programs as the recommended cost-effective strategy for preventing falls among t...