Implementing a Fall Prevention Program in a Long-Term Care Facility

Abstract

Falls are a significant and costly health care problem that can affect a person’s quality of life. Twenty to thirty percent of older people suffer moderate to severe injuries from falling. Falls have become a substantial health concern for a 207-bed for-profit long-term care facility located in south-central North Carolina. The goal of this quality improvement project was to reduce falls and falls with injury within a long-term care facility. The intervention chosen to achieve this goal was to implement purposeful rounding. Education was provided to all staff and purposeful rounding was initiated. Fall rates were collected pre-and post-intervention to determined effectiveness of intervention. The major findings in this project indicated that the implementation of purposeful rounding effectively reduced total falls and falls with injury. The results revealed that falls from January to April 2021 decreased from 60 to 52 total falls in 2022, which was a 13% decrease. The data revealed that falls with injury from January to April 2021 decreased from 11 falls with injury to 8 in 2022, which was a 27% decrease. The findings of this project can be effective in a long-term care facilities' approach to fall prevention and quality of care. Reducing falls has a positive impact on nursing practice, patient outcomes, and healthcare systems.