Introduction
Quality improvement (QI) programs are essential, but patients do not necessarily notice them in hospitals. QI programs entail focused activities designed to improve, analyze, and monitor processes’ quality to advance healthcare outcomes in organizations. An example of a QI initiative is fall prevention, which aims to reduce patient falls. For the program proposal to be approved by the board, the fall prevention pitch must discuss its purpose, target population, benefits, cost justification, and evaluation.
Purpose
Patients with a condition requiring acute care need extensive occupational and physical therapy to achieve the best independence level possible while facing mobility challenges. Falls require nurse sensitivity since the quality and quantity of nursing care positively influence them. Fall prevention would lessen the overall rate of falls and eliminate injuries through an evidence-based protocol (Spano-Szekely et al., 2019). Additionally, fall prevention would increase the number of patients receiving an appropriate assessment of risks and individualized interventions.
Target Population
The target population is composed of patients who require acute care. Such patients require constant medical attention to help them to achieve independence in the shortest time possible. Every patient’s risk level should be evaluated to reduce the chances of falling due to preexisting conditions or age. For instance, inpatients seeking therapy after an acute stroke have impaired independence. Many of such patients die due to injuries caused by falls (Morris & O’Riordan, 2017). Alternatively, older people have weak bodies and low balance, making them vulnerable.
Benefits
Prevention of falls is critical to avoid the low quality of life and the loss of independence. Practical programs that prevent falls decrease patients’ falls in hospitals. Preventing falls reduces costs since substantial amounts of money are spent on medical costs from fall injuries. Falls can be aggravated by low vision, old age, poor balance, medication use, and mobility problems. Developing an effective strategy to address falls’ causes effectively manages and reduces falls (Stevens & Lee, 2018). In retrospect, fall prevention reduces falls which avert medical costs and lead to improved patient outcomes.
Interprofessional Collaboration
Interprofessional collaboration can help reduce medication errors and deliver improved patient outcomes, leading to reduced healthcare costs. The key collaborators include the whole care team, such as patient care assistants, nursing leadership, and staff. Other stakeholders include support staff, advanced practice nurses, pharmacists, physical therapists, and the family and patient advisory council (Spano-Szekely et al., 2019). The program’s success would depend on everyone who interacts with patients as part of interprofessional collaboration (Baumann et al., 2017). Fall prevention should become an organizational culture for the intervention to succeed.
Cost Justification
Most nursing interventions increase the cost of offering services to patients. However, the cost is justified by the benefits, which primarily bring down healthcare costs. When falls are reduced, patients require less care from hospitals, reducing their bills. Moreover, healthcare institutions’ costs due to patient falls are cut down (Stevens & Lee, 2018). The costs incurred for additional safety measures by infirmaries are nothing compared to improved patient outcomes, reduced injuries or deaths, and increased quality of life.
Evaluation
The intervention’s strategies include organizational support, incorporation of injury, medications, and mobility assessment, efficiently communicating risk factors and auditing, effective hourly rounding, constant improvement, and learning. The program will be assessed based on a summative evaluation, which gathers data on program outcomes. The strategy will be evaluated to determine its overall effect on defined outcomes. Further, a cost-effective analysis will be conducted to establish the money saved (Spano-Szekely et al., 2019). Finally, existing information will be assessed to consider emerging questions that were not in the original discussion.
Conclusion
In conclusion, a good program proposal should discuss its cost justification, purpose, benefits, professional collaboration, target population, and evaluation to be approved. The intervention program aims to improve patient outcomes by trimming down patient injuries and falls. Preventing falls leads to fewer deaths, medical costs, and enhanced patient outcomes. Interprofessional collaboration between nurses, nursing leadership, and physical therapists meritoriously implement the intervention. The program’s cost is justified while the assessment would be done using summative evaluation.
References
Baumann, I., Glässel, A., Volken, T., Rüesch, P., Dratva, J., & Wieber, F. (2017). Interprofessional collaboration in fall prevention. European Journal of Public Health, 27(suppl.3). Web.
Morris, R., & O’Riordan, S. (2017). Prevention of falls in hospital. Clinical Medicine, 17(4), 360. Web.
Spano-Szekely, L., Winkler, A., Waters, C., Dealmeida, S., Brandt, K., Williamson, M., Blum, C., Gasper, L. & Wright, F. (2019). Individualized fall prevention program in an acute care setting: an evidence-based practice improvement. Journal of Nursing Care Quality, 34(2), 127-132. Web.
Stevens, J. A., & Lee, R. (2018). The potential to reduce falls and avert costs by clinically managing fall risk. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 55(3), 290-297. Web.
