- NURS FPX 6004 Assessment 2 Policy Proposal.
Policy Proposal
The latter highlighted a number of issues that organizations in the health sector deal with in a bid to achieve the best quality and safety. As for these challenges, benchmark metric underperformance is a gnarly issue that affects patients’ and organizations’ efficiency. Unfortunately, these are some of the major challenges that healthcare leaders face in their routine work; therefore, it is high time to outline solid policy propositions and practice recommendations to solve these challenges. This policy proposal is the means of rectifying the underperformance as outlined in Assessment 1, thus providing a detailed policy change recommendation package. Thus, promoting strategies focusing on interventions and practices supported by research data, we seek to improve the quality of services, comply with the legislation and contribute to creating a safer environment in the field of health care (Brown et al., 2019).
Interpret for Stakeholders the Need for Creating Policy and Practice Guidelines
According to the state health department, the benchmark of fall rates for patients has been fixed at 3 falls per thousand patient days in the current year in our organization. However, our organization’s operating rate is at 4. On average, 5 falls per 1000 patient days, but it is also essential to know that this result means the organization is poorly meeting this component. Such deviation poses a threat to patient safety, quality of care, and efficiency of operations compared to the benchmark set.
· Effects on quality of care and firm performance
These high fall rates have a direct and negative effect on patient safety as they depict the health dangers of the elderly inhabitants. Falls increase patients’ vulnerability to injuries, which may increase the length of hospital stay, require further treatment and therefore, overall health costs rise. This not only degrades the quality of both the services offered but also influences the patient’s satisfaction and confidence in health care services. Also, with high fall rates, the facility’s resources are put to good use as more staff time is used for observation, helping patients and handling the fall incidents.
· Potential Repercussions of Inaction
There are several grave consequences that may be experienced if this underperformance is not dealt with. Failure to meet the set standard may attract fines, which affect the overall financial health of the organization. Lack of adherence to required quality could make the organization lose accreditation from the relevant bodies in the health sector, meaning its operation and funding will be badly affected.
NURS FPX 6004 Assessment 2 Policy Proposal
Higher fall rates might also make the organization vulnerable to legal risks, such as clients or their families suing the facility for negligence. Falls cause poor patient outcomes, whereby patients suffer from complications and infections, which results in low patient satisfaction as patients post their experiences online. In addition, there is pressure on the increase in the number of fall incidents and its implications for human resources by increasing their working hours, stress levels, and turnover rate, eventually reducing the quality and efficiency of the services provided (Smith & Jones, 2020).
· Reasons that Speak of the Need for Policy and Guidelines
Studies suggest that only multicomponent fall prevention interventions are effective in decreasing the rate of falls and in enhancing the patient’s status. For example, Hempel et al. (2019) showed that conducting multifactorial preventive interventions that involved staff education, risk assessments of the patients, and alterations to the patients’ environment significantly reduced fall incidence in hospitals. Another cross-sectional study (Tricco et al., 2019) also concluded that patients’ fall prevention interventions that included interprofessional communication and patients’ involvement decreased the number of fall occurrences.
Proposed Organizational Policy or Practice Change Guideline
The patient fall rate was 4, and the proposed policy for cutting down the rate is as follows: 5 or below the tally of 3 falls per 1,000 patient days during the subsequent one year. To achieve this goal, the following critical practice guidelines are included in this policy. First, the toolkit for the assessment of the risk of falls will be conducted for all the patients as an initial screen after admission, and then at periodic intervals during the patient’s stay. This will also help in identifying the at-risk patients and thus giving them special attention. Second, educational sessions will be introduced annually to update all workers of the healthcare facility on the possible measures and correct actions in case of fall occurrences.
Third, environmental interventions will include the application of non-slippery floors, proper lighting and reachable call bells in the patient’s rooms and related areas. Fourth, the patient and family involvement will be enhanced through a programme of providing information on the fall hazards and techniques on how to prevent them. Finally, the effectiveness of the different measures provided will be supervised by a fall prevention task force that will involve nursing staff, physicians, physical therapists, safety officers and other members of staff who will ensure that the recommendations are closely followed for the provision of better care to the patients.
· Possible Impacts on the Environmental Factors
Concerns arising from the legal or industry bodies like the CMS and the Joint Commission, for instance, have the core value of focusing on patient safety and enhanced health care quality outcomes. Their violation exposes the hospitals to penalties and loss of accreditation from the body. The following policy corresponds to these regulations inasmuch as it enables the organization to meet these standards and avert financial and operational consequences. Thus, adhering to and even surpassing the requirements outlined by these regulatory bodies will allow the organisation to retain its accreditation, avoid fines, and prove that it only provides high-quality patient care (Brown et al., 2019).
· Resource Availability
Forgeson and coworkers have proposed some guidelines, and to develop a set of guidelines, one has to invest in staff, finances, and logistics. Training sessions are bound to take time and may call for resources, while making the environment conducive may call for capital investment. For instance, the provision of a non-slip floor and proper lighting in the patient rooms will be costly. Yet, when it comes to long-term returns, savings on fall rates are significant and relate to such aspects as reduced healthcare spending and optimal patients’ well-being. Thus, by effectively allocating the resources and obtaining money for changes that are vital for the policy adoption, the organisation can implement it adequately. Proactive resource management will guarantee the provision of enough finances and other necessities required for the continuity of these ventures (Smith & Jones, 2020).
· Cause-and-Effect Relationships
All the standards that are provided below were specifically drafted in an effort to identify and control the causes of falls and ensure patient protection. Screening tools identify vulnerable populations and, therefore, prevent the occurrence of falls among the affected patients. Staff education also aims at guaranteeing that all the members of the team have adequate information on the ways and means of preventing and handling falls. Preventative interventions work and change the physical environment to bring the levels of risk down; this helps the patient. Patients and their families also increase the opportunities for health care safety as all the people around the patient start thinking of safety and participating in fostering it. The fact that multiple professions are discussing the prevention of falls means that it is everyone’s task; hence, care is more streamlined and efficient. These interventions combined focus on addressing factors that generate fall risk, hence reducing the overall fall incidences and increasing patients’ safety (Hempel et al., 2019).
Ethical, Evidence-Based Practice Guidelines to Improve Targeted Benchmark Performance
To tackle the benchmark underperformance in the patient fall rates, a number of ethical EBP guidelines have been recommended for implementation. First of all, one must introduce the standardized, accurate fall risk assessment tool, e., Morse Fall Scale. It will help in the assessment and determination of each patient’s risk for falling when admitted and during their stay, and hence ensure that patients at risk of falling get interventions (Hempel et al., 2019). Second, it is required to carry out invariable hearings for all healthcare staff with a frequency of at least once within seven days. Such courses will include information about the prevention of falls and the correct response to incidents, which will ensure adequate knowledge and skills of staff to prevent falls and handle violations, respectively (Smith & Jones, 2020).
NURS FPX 6004 Assessment 2 Policy Proposal
Third, environmental adaptations require intervention to lessen the risk of falls in clients. This entails having surfaces without slipperiness, sufficient illumination, and call buttons within a patient’s reach. The promotion of safety checks will assist in the avoidance of the formation of a number of dangers or risks in the environment (Tricco et al. , 2019). Last, the interprofessional collaboration will occur through the formation of a fall prevention task force that will be responsible for the implementation of the above strategies and periodic evaluation of incidents In relation to this, incident reports will contain elements that will be reviewed by the fall prevention task force to identify areas of improvement based on nurses’ feedback and the effects derived thereoff (Hempel et al., 2019).
· Evaluating Practice Shifts and Their Effect on Constituents
Total practice change in these areas will have a transformative effect on all the integration stakeholders. For patients, the new plan on the implementation of a consistent fall risk assessment tool means that those at risk would be identified early enough, and would thus receive further protection while in the healthcare setting. This proactive procedure is expected to work wonders in cutting down the number of falls among the patients and recommends that the quality of health care be delivered to the patients in order to boost the overall satisfaction level among the patients. Supreme leaders and medical practitioners will benefit from enhanced competencies and self-efficacy from specialized training. It will also enhance their capacity in the prevention and management of falls, besides enhancing their job satisfaction, resulting from changes observed within a relatively short period of time.
Particular Stakeholders and Groups
This paper has outlined why some stakeholders and groups of staff must be involved in the formulation of the proposed fall prevention policy. First, the direct users of the completed fall prevention strategies include the stakeholders, the nurses and the physicians working in healthcare facilities. Their participation makes sure that the guidelines are applicable, needful, and correspond to clinical practice encountered on a daily basis. These providers, when taking part in the development process, ought to be able to provide their experience on what difficulties they experience and what resource deficiencies they have in order to build more efficient and practicable guidelines (Smith & Jones, 2020).
Second, patients and their families’ engagement is crucial in promoting teamwork in preventing fall incidents among them. Training and involving them in the protective measures also enables them to play an active role in their treatment, as well as assists in the reinforcement of the fall prevention measures. They make sure that the guidelines reflect some of the questions and are an accurate reflection of what is required for compliance with various measures in safety (Brown et al., 2019).
Strategies for Collaborating with a Stakeholder Group
Stakeholder involvement is important when it comes to applying and integrating the proposed fall prevention policy and practice guidelines. One of the outlined strategies is the forming of the multidisciplinary Fall Prevention Task Force. The members in this task force should consist of the healthcare provider, the patients, the patient’s family, safety officers and the quality improvement department. The fact that the task force is composed of people from different backgrounds increases the probability of assessing all the possible angles of the issue, which, in turn, means that the policy is going to be more versatile and feasible.
This approach also helps in the creation of guidelines that are reasonable and efficient in preventing falls in various structures (Hempel et al. , 2019). The other important approach is the use of the infrastructure, which involves conducting group work and training meetings. These sessions are opportunities for the policy’s stakeholders to deliberate on the issue, and offer their inputs. To ensure that a specific policy is implemented as required by the organization, the management needs to hold multiple workshops with all the stakeholders involved and interested in it. This approach of involving the stakeholders helps in making them understand their responsibility in the implementation of the policy, thus increasing their desire to support the policy (Smith & Jones, 2020).
Conclusion
In this regard, while the proposed policy and practice guidelines that aim to upgrade fall prevention are still important, the current median underperformance dictates the enhancement of patient safety. This policy is, therefore, necessary since fall occurrences have overall implications for patient care and the institution. The facts reveal that the current situation does not correspond to the benchmark, and this leads to enhanced risks to patients’ harm, the growth of costs, and possible actions from the authorities.
Due to the identified deficiencies, the following guidelines should be enforced to address these shortcomings and make the center compliant with local, state, and federal health care laws. The conceptualized policy entails concrete practice standards systematically planned to address the aforementioned deficiency. As such, the policy should enhance fall prevention and, consequently, raise overall patient safety by integrating research-based approaches and involving stakeholders.
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