Falls in hospital – patient and clinicians

Jennifer Geaney, Clinical Nurse Educator:  Intentional early rounding is not a new concept. There is a lot of documented evidence that it does reduce falls. We go into the patient within the hour. We specifically go in and ask the questions, have they got pain? Are they comfortable? Do they need to go to the toilet? And we check their environment, we make sure their call bell is close by, that their fall mats are on, if they need to be on during the day, and if they've got an IDC, for instance a catheter, we make sure it's not wrapped around their legs, anything in their environment is free of clutter and we do that every hour.

Noelene Ward, Patient:  Well, I've learnt that I've got to watch where I'm walking to start with, and I always put the light on in the dark. I've just got to be careful where I go, you know, and sometimes I've got to have a trolley with me until I'm right again, but I'm doing okay now. Oh, they've done a marvellous job and it's a wonderful place to be in if you're sick.

Jennifer Geaney, Clinical Nurse Educator:  We first heard about Leading Better Value Care in late 2017. We learnt all the different aspects of quality improvement methodology and that's what we then brought home, back to the workplace to start implementing what we were learning. It was a huge learning curve.

Noelene Ward, Patient:  You know, it's just been so helpful that there is so much help out there, that you can have when something happens to you. I don't want to go to a nursing home. I want to stay in my own home as long as possible. They just know what they're doing and are so kind to you, you know. It doesn't matter what time in the morning, you can press the button if you have got to get up and you can't get to the toilet or something like that. You can do that and press the button and they'll come in straightaway, they’ll come in and help you. 

Jennifer Geaney, Clinical Nurse Educator:   I've also seen personally when I attend rounding that I have nipped in the bud, you know, pain or possible you know, potential fall and I think my staff have felt the same too and I feel that there's a lot of satisfaction, a lot of pride in the AGEM. I think they've all just come to terms that this is what we're doing and they are seeing results. The different elements of what we do just creates this strength of care.
Current as at: Tuesday 28 April 2020
Contact page owner: System Performance Support