Fall Measurement at Baylor Health Care System - Case Study Example

Fall Measurement at Baylor Health Care System The purpose of this paper is to analyze and review the case of ‘fall measurement at ‘Baylor Health Care System’ according to the provided case study and addresses certain questions. The fall measurement at Baylor health care systems has several underlying causes. The number of patient falls in the organization is often reported by the prevalence or incidence which is recorded on a monthly basis. The fall rate is calculated as below: Fall Rate = Number of Patient Falls x 1,000 Number of Patient Days (Definitions and Measurements, 2011). The number of falls per 1000 patient days has increased. But the actual cause of patient falls is not definite because either the reason could be an increase in the number of patients turning into the hospitals or it could be as a result of a decrease in the number of patients visiting the hospitals. This can be framed to more in detail like 1 patient care fall when the total number of patients is 10 is not the same as 1 fall when the total number of patients is 30 because the percentage of efficiencies in both the situation is different. The quality measurement restricted simply within the managers, administrators, quality improvement professionals will not improve the service delivery to patients. For successfully assessing the fall in patient service, it is also necessary that the patient falls can be more importantly measured by the nurses who are the actual health givers. The criterion based quality measurement that could be applied in this case study is to incorporate a system of regular hourly rounds by nurses, as a solution to decrease patient falls in the hospital. “Hourly rounding by the nursing staff on their patients was thought to be one intervention that can be implemented to reduce the number of patient falls” (Mary A et al. 1998, p. 1). For this, appropriate staffing procedure needs to be adopted for getting the plan executed. The regular hourly round system incorporated by nurses allows them to regularly report to the doctors, managers and the administrators to know the number of patient falls in the organization. The hourly round system incorporated by nurses can be implemented through a rotational arrangement of nurses, so as to extend each patient the advantage of the hourly round system. This method turned as a usable step for staff and management in order to reduce the number of patient falls in the hospital, in case the number of patient falls is due to the lack of care provided to the patients. “Total hours of care from all nursing personnel were associated directly with the rates of decubiti, complaints, and mortality” (Mary A et al. 1998). The front line nurses are the important persons who are responsible for entering primary data for quality management, because they are the actual care givers and who remain in touch with the patients at most of the times. “Nurse executives and frontline managers make decisions about numbers of staff to assign to the various areas of their facilities.” (Clarke & Donaldson, n.d.). A respiratory care department needs to use as an appropriate quality measurement tool in analyzing an adverse patient reaction. A number of formative and summative evaluations are useful in analyzing the routine examination of data. Dashboards and scorecards are the most important components of the program evaluation. A dashboard for critical care allows for monthly report especially in cases of ventilator associated pneumonia bundle. Patient falls needs to be monitored appropriately because it is a stigma on the health care service provider. (1) What were the different principal questions that could be addressed? A number of different principal questions need to be addressed in identifying the cases of patient falls in hospitals. The principal questions to be addressed in case of patient falls are: 1. What are the average numbers of patients who come to the Baylor health care system? 2. On an average how many patient falls in a year has been witnessed in the Baylor health care system? 3. Is there adequate number of nurses in the Baylor health care system? 4. What role do the doctors play in the Baylor health care system? 5. What evaluations had been made by the hospitals in the evaluation of patient falls in the organization? (2) Which criterion-based quality measurement method would apply in this case study? Statistical methods are one of the important criterion based quality measurement method which would be applied in this case study. Also criteria management can be done using excel which allows the criteria based evaluation for quality measurement in the Baylor health care system. Performance measurement tools, complaint books and the data information system guidance is criteria based quality measurement method which should be used in the case study. (3) What makes a measurement method usable for staff and management? Formative and summative evaluations are the most adequate measurement methods that are usable for staff and management in assessing the number of patient falls in the Baylor health care system. An accurate record keeping of the number of patient falls in the organization by the nurses and the staff makes it a measurable process to analyze the number of patient falls in the hospital. (4) Who is responsible for entering primary data for quality management? Responsibility for entering primary data for quality management is mainly in the hands of nurses and the management team. Quality management can be assessed by the nurses and the management team on the basis of the data that should be recorded by the receptionists or the data entry operators. In the Baylor health care system primary data for patient falls can be recorded by the data entry operators or the receptionists and they can submit their report to the nurses and the management team and they can investigate the case. (5) How would a respiratory care department use such a quality measurement tool in analyzing an adverse patient reaction? A respiratory care department uses the quality measurement tool in analyzing adverse patient reaction as used by the other departments. A respiratory care department utilizes the quality measurement tool like the performance measurement tools regarding patient falls in the Baylor health care system, the complaint book which analyses the patient complaints in the hospital with regard to patient falls, the validation tools also use a quality measurement tool in analyzing an adverse patient reaction in hospitals. Reference List Clarke, S. P. & Donaldson, N. E. (n.d.). Chapter 25: Nurse Staffing and Patient Care Quality and Safety. NCBI. Retrieved January 07, 2012 from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK2676/ Definitions and Measurements. (2011). Premier Inc. Retrieved January 07, 2012 from http://www.premierinc.com/safety/topics/falls/definitions_and_measurements.jsp Mary A et al. (1998). Nurse Staffing and Patient Outcomes. Nursing Research. Retrieved January 07, 2012 from http://journals.lww.com/nursingresearchonline/Abstract/1998/01000/Nurse_Staffing_and_Patient_Outcomes.8.aspx Read More