Title : The fall prevention resources reduce falls in the outpatient surgery clinic
Abstract:
Falls are one of the most common adverse events in hospitals and can lead to patient harm. Fall prevention is one of the Joint commission national patient safety goals. Fall prevention has become an important goal for the health care settings. The setting of this QI project was at the outpatient surgical clinic at MEDVAMC. On an average, around 4000 outpatients per month have appointments in this clinic. At the outpatient clinic, the veteran waits for the clinic visit at the waiting area. The veteran fall rate was high and most of the veteran fall incidents were primarily because there was no continuous monitoring by the staff. The television on the waiting area is an important tool to educate the veteran. Literature review was done on fall prevention patient education. We gathered all the relevant fall prevention patient education and created the video to play it on television at the clinic waiting area to decrease falls in the outpatient surgical clinic. Implemented the patient education videos in the clinic. The fall prevention patient education videos include when they need to notify staff, when they need to ask for assistance, when they need to check with health care provider and the fall precautions, they need to be aware. The Educational videos are an important tool available for the veterans to prevent falls. This considerably improved awareness or knowledge on fall prevention measures. The videos are played on a regular basis at the patient waiting area. We collected the data through NDNQI on falls during the health care visit at the clinic. Results indicated that the fall data had decreased from 3 in Q1 FY 2024 to 1 Q2 FY 2024 after the implementation of patient education videos. It sustained to 0 falls in the current quarter FY 24-25. The patient fall education videos are currently being played in the clinic waiting area to educate veterans of fall prevention.
