Capstone Project Change Proposal Components

Introduction

Over the years, many cases of falls have been reported among patients in various healthcare facilities. Whenever these falls occur, they negatively impact the victims by overstaying in hospitals, reducing the life quality, and being costly (Toye et al., 2017). Many of these cases are often associated with a lack of education among the nurses despite having the noble duty to ensure the safety of the patients (Chu, 2017). As a result, healthcare professionals have continued to develop significant ways to reduce falling through interventions such as the education of nurses. According to The Joint Commission (2018), falls can be prevented in hospitals once nurses gain skills and knowledge on how to overcome them through education. The current project examines the lack of fall prevention education in nurses and proposes changes to help healthcare workers enhance their ability to minimize falls in their facilities.

Background

The quality of healthcare is comprised of clinical safety which is considered a crucial component that identifies and reduces the risks faced by patients. Montejano-Lozoya et al. (2020) defined falls as adverse events which occur in a hospital environment and have a significant impact of about 10% of income made by the organization. The effects come in terms of costs, damage, pain, and mistrust of the health system by patients. The environmental improvements can reduce the possibility of falling up to 30 to 50% (McCarty et al., 2018). However, the effects of risk of falls in hospitals remain unclear due to the low quality of evidence despite the interventions put in place. Therefore, the education of nurses has been employed as a single intervention or being treated as part of the multifactorial intervention process for fall prevention programs.

Clinical Problem Statement

In the most recent years, the authority at Community Regional Medical Center (CRMC) Fresno has been receiving numerous complaints from clients who experience falls within the facility. Most of the cases are experienced among patients with lacerations, fractures, and internal bleeding. Reports indicate that many nurses attending to the clients have limited information on how to prevent falling. The project’s focus is on the lack of education among nurses to identify risk factors and work toward preventing falls which requires change.

The Purpose of Change Proposal

The decision to propose the change within the facility is based on previous investigations and the current situation at the facility. Research by Heng et al. (2020) indicated that falls often occur when healthcare professionals are not keen on helping guide clients. This is often contributed by limited skills and knowledge to observe policy standards when handling patients. Whenever falls happen, they are likely to increase the complications of patients, especially those already with injuries and the older people exposed to the risk of falling (Kempegowda et al., 2018). The purpose of the proposed change is to improve the education of nurses when it comes to preventing falls. The measures include nurses’ empowerment to have them lead patient care and curricula strengthening to focus on the skills and concepts needed for one to participate in activities of preventing falls.

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