Purpose and Major Goals
We are here to discuss an important issue we all acknowledge and have addressed in different ways. Falls are common for any hospital, but the recent study regarding care quality at Clarion Court Skilled Nursing Facility suggests that the problem persists and requires an immediate solution. The primary cause of the alarming rate of falls at our facility is ineffective communication. This brief session will include an overview of the problem, the role each employee can play, and effective methods to address the issue and become high-achievers. We will establish a new culture regarding fall prevention as the existing one has proved to be unsuccessful.
Urgency
You are all well aware of the fact that the vast majority of our patients are older people and those having various health conditions associated with falls. According to statistics, a third of falls in older patients leads to injury of different severity (McAtee et al., 2019). So, we risk increasing our workload by 30% if we ignore the problem. More importantly, we risk causing considerable injury to the patients we are responsible for. Ineffective communication has proved to be the major cause of falls. We simply cannot interact properly, which makes us individuals who occasionally meet in corridors. Instead, we need to be a team, in which all members share the most important value: we are here to care and facilitate the healing process.
Safety Improvement Plan
The suggested improvement plan consists of several elements that are critical to the creation of the new culture and the start of the new era of care. We will not confine our effort to caring for our patients but will start caring for each other and ourselves! The improvement plan will include training sessions where we will acquire new communication and conflict management skills. We will learn more about each other and the methods we use to complete tasks. We will also learn how to be more responsible.
Your Role and Importance
One of the biggest problems of any organization is the employees’ lack of confidence. Many people think they only need to do a set of things and receive their payment. However, you need to remember that from the moment you enter the facility, you co-create the reality we all live in. Think of the problems you have noticed and the solutions that immediately came to your mind. Think of those times or even one occasion when you voiced your concerns and articulated your ideas. I am sure each of us is doing or has done at least once all the things displayed on the slide every day. You just need to have the courage and confidence to become more active. These small things will help us make our working place comfortable and rewarding.
New Process and Skills Practice: Three-Stage Approach
Although some elements of this approach have been utilized at Clarion Court Skilled Nursing Facility, a comprehensive plan needs to be developed and implemented. Duckworth et al. (2019) suggested a three-phase intervention: assessment, planning, and implementation. When assessing risks, the nurse can manage her and her colleague’s time more effectively. Patients who are at a higher risk of falls receive more attention and training. Importantly, our information system is quite effective, so nurses should include this status on the medical records and upgrade it when necessary. Making notes can help employees to share important data regarding the most relevant details regarding patients.
New Process and Skills Practice: Communication
First, we all need to remember that communication is the basis of people’s life. We can make our days just having small talk in the morning or bringing out an important thing. We are often so concerned with the ripples we can cause, but our silence creates even more and, ironically, often affects us in quite bad ways. So, we need to be open and share our knowledge. We always have to report about issues that emerge, even if we do not have a solution. Use technology as we have devices that can improve our communication, which is critical for modern nursing practice (Colón-Emeric et al., 2017). Now, let us watch a short video where a professional RN shares valuable tips. We will role-play to practice the skills she helps us acquire.
Soliciting Feedback
Hopefully, you find this brief session, as well as our brilliant and informative role-playing, helpful. If it is successful, I expect to receive dozens of questions and ideas, or simple remarks and reactions. Of course, we can discuss all this during our following meetings, and you can simply talk to me. I also encourage you to use technology and send emails or messages through our information system. I will be glad to receive your feedback and discuss whatever makes you feel concerned or happy.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I would like to draw your attention to the problem of falls at our facility, as well as the lack of communication contributing to the issue. We need to be more open and collaborative as our commitment can help us make our working place better. We need to be aware of every hazard to react properly. If you notice something, please report and be the one who voices rather than silences concerns. We need each other to get less stress and be more satisfied as we will be able to provide high-quality care and help our patients cope with their health problems. Thank you for your attention!
References
Duckworth, M., Adelman, J., Belategui, K., Feliciano, Z., Jackson, E., Khasnabish, S., … Dykes, P. C. (2019). Assessing the effectiveness of engaging patients and their families in the three-step fall prevention process across modalities of an evidence-based fall prevention toolkit: An implementation science study. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 21(1).
Colón-Emeric, C. S., Corazzini, K., McConnell, E. S., Pan, W., Toles, M., Hall, R., … Anderson, R. A. (2017). Effect of promoting high-quality staff interactions on fall prevention in nursing homes. JAMA Internal Medicine, 177(11), 1634-1641. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2017.5073
McAtee, R. E., Chernoff, R., Packard, K., Thomasson, W., Spradley, L., & Mercado, C. (2019). Fall prevention programs for rural community dwelling older adults results in improved balance. Innovation in Aging, 3(Supplement_1), S856-S857. doi:10.1093/geroni/igz038.3149
RegisteredNurseRN. (2018). Communication in nursing | Nurse-to-nurse Communication Skills [Video file].