Title
Fall prevention practices in adult medical-surgical nursing units described by nurse managers
Document Type
Article
Peer Reviewed
1
Publication Date
4-1-2011
Volume
33
Journal, Book or Conference Title
Western journal of nursing research
PubMed ID
20921126
DOI
10.1177/0193945910379217
Abstract
The purpose of this article was to describe nursing practices (e.g., assessment, interventions) around fall prevention, as perceived by nurse managers in adult, medical-surgical nursing units. One hundred forty nurse managers from 51 hospitals from across the United States participated. Descriptive frequencies are used to describe nurse manager responses. The most commonly used fall risk assessment tool was the Morse Fall Risk Assessment Tool (40%). The most common fall prevention interventions included bed alarms (90%), rounds (70%), sitters (68%), and relocating the patient closer to the nurses' station (56%). Twenty-nine percent of nurse managers identified physical restraints as an intervention to prevent falls whereas only 10% mentioned ambulation. No nurse manager identified that RN hours per patient-day were adjusted to prevent falls or fall-related injuries. More work is needed to build systems that ensure evidence-based nursing interventions are consistently applied in acute care.
Keywords
Accidental Falls/prevention & control, Hospital Units/organization & administration, Humans, Nursing, Supervisory, Risk Assessment, Security Measures, United States
NLM Title Abbreviation
West J Nurs Res
URL
http://ir.uiowa.edu/nursing_pubs/1684
