Accidental Falls Among Elderly Patients Living in Healthcare Facilities - Essay Example

CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY

Introduction

It has been observed that accidental falls among elderly patients living in healthcare facilities are becoming increasingly common. Reports from the World Health Organization (WHO, 2016) indicate that 20 to 30 percent of elderly residents in long-term care facilities experience minor or major injuries from falls. The associated costs rank in the millions of dollars. Therefore, there exists a pressing need to effectively reduce these incidences by implementing selected strategies such as intentional hourly rounding. Thus, Chapter three focuses on establishing a correlation between the intentional rounding checklist and the reduction of falls.

Statement of the problem

The use of an intentional rounding checklist – created by the Forde-Johnston (2014) – by nurses and certified nursing assistants to conduct hourly rounds will be vital in trimming the number of falls and fall-related injuries residents 65 years and older residing at the selected site for the project. Nurses will be required to be checking on the residents every two hours, assessing their needs such that the items needed by the residents are within reach, the beds are in the lowest position, floor mats are close by the bedside, and their call lights are properly functioning.

Population and Sample Selection

A nursing home will be selected as the

ideal institution because it generally has a good number of elderly residents who are 65 years and above. Consequently, one institution within the county will be selected as the site for the project. Demographics indicate that over 2000 elderly persons are 65 years and above receiving nursing care within most counties. Hence, the project sample population will comprise of 50 - 100 elderly residents to be the representative proportion of the population. The aim is to strike the least margin of error at a 95% sampling confidence level. The population sample will be characterized by all genders who are 65 years and older, having various risk factors such as arthritis and cancer, which makes them susceptible to falls (Alshammari et al., 2018; Sharif, Al-Harbi, Al-Shihabi, Al-Daour, & Sharif, 2018). Residents admitted for rehabilitation purposes will also be included in the study if admitted to the unit; there will be no exclusion criteria for age or diagnosis.

Reliability

Validity will be confirmed by the extent to which our selected instruments will measure the variables and perform as designed. The reliability of the project will be determined by establishing how the intentional rounding checklist will reduce falls in elderly residents at the selected site (Noble & Smith, 2015). The project will scrutinize three research papers that have used quantitative methodology on the topic: effects of implementing hourly Rounds as a strategy for reducing falls among the elderly.

Validity

Validity and Reliability

int-click system, and the site's risk management system that identifies all incidents, including falls within the past three years.

Sources of data

Sources of data for this project will take into account the clinical question: what are the impacts of implementing hourly rounding on reducing falls for residents aged 65 years and older? Hence the focus will be on strategies that will help reduce falls for elderly residents in the selected state county. The quantitative methodology will be employed, where there shall be a review of published literature, data collection, data analysis, and the desired outcome (Ripathy, 2017). The project's correlation design will aim to establish, describe, and ascertain whether there are links between intentional rounding checklist and resident fall. Consequently, the sources of data will include nurses' records of falls, the facility's po

The results of the three research studies will also be scrutinized for accuracy. After that, this project will establish whether there is a correlation between the intentional rounding checklist tool and fall reduction (Noble & Smith, 2015). The project will be reliable if there is consistency by which the selected instruments measure the variables. Hence, the project will focus on the stability of the literature findings to increase transparency and eliminate researcher bias within quantitative research.

Data collection procedures

The data required for the project will be those on resident falls and hourly rounds conducted by nurses and certified nursing assistants. The fall rates recorded three months before implementing the new hourly rounding process will be compared to data collected three months after implementation. The site's records will also be examined to see the number of falls that recorded over the last three years. Data collection is expected to take one month, and it will interview patients, kin of patients, and friends in conjunction with the nurses. The main method will be reviewing the data collected on the rounding rates and rate of falls from the site's documentation system. This will make it possible to examine a large data set on hourly rounds and falls and allow quantitative investigations to be subject to rigorous quality controls. Once the evaluation and reviewing of the data have been completed, the data will be permanently deleted three months from the end of the project.

Data analysis procedures

Data analysis will be quantitative, and the Pearson's correlation coefficient will be used to establish the degree and direction of the association between frequency of hourly rounds and resident falls. The Chi-square will be used further to indicate whether the observed distribution is due to chance (Abulela & Harwell, 2020). Tests of significance will be conducted at p ≤ 0.05.

Ethical considerations

The main ethical issues are confidentiality and privacy. The project aims to maintain and protect information that could not disclose a resident's identity during the project. The project aims to handle data used for this project is maintained following the University and the facility's protocols. The project will ensure that there will not be any personal identifying information recorded on residents from data reviewed, and only the number of falls will be considered. Additionally, the nursing staff will be educated on maintaining the residents' respect and autonomy while conducting rounds.

Limitations:

It is expected that biases will exist due to People's reluctance to divert from the facility's existing norms. Therefore, nurses could repeat inherent aspects of their routines, and it is possible that not all the falls will be recorded, especially where the nurses did not see. Also, since the project employs a quantitative methodology that rarely focuses on identifying the underlying reasons that explain observed patterns, it becomes difficult to analyze shared meanings of social phenomena (Rahman, 2017).

Reference

Abulela, M & Harwell, M. (2020) Educational Sciences: Data Analysis; Statistical Inference; Research Problems; Validity; Achievement Tests; Foreign Countries; International Assessment; Secondary School Students; Reliability; Evidence; Models; Measurement; Program for International Student Assessment Theory and Practice, v20 n1 p59-78.

Alshammari, S. A., Alhassan, A. M., Aldawsari, M. A., Bazuhair, F. O., Alotaibi, F. K., Aldakhil, A. A., & Abdulfattah, F. W. (2018). Falls among the elderly and its relation with their health problems and surrounding environmental factors in Riyadh. Journal of Family & Community Medicine, 25(1), 29–34. https://doi.org/10.4103/jfcm.JFCM_48_17

Forde-Johnston, C. (2014). Intentional rounding: a review of the literature. Nursing Standard, 28(32). https://doi.org/10.7748/ns2014.04.28.32.37.e8564

Noble, H., & Smith, J. (2015). Issues of validity and reliability in qualitative research. Evidence-based nursing, 18(2), 34-35.

Rahman, S. (2017). The advantages and disadvantages of using qualitative and quantitative approaches and methods in language "testing and assessment" research: A literature review. Journal of Education and Learning, 6(1). 10.5539/jelv6n1p102

Ripathy, P. (2017). Fundamentals of research. A dissective view. Hamburg, Germany: Anchor Academic Publishing.

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class, I am engaged in the writing of my DPI Project, and I am communicating regularly with my DPI Project Chairperson/Committee."