Reflection Over Patient Falling in Rehabilitation Units

Working in a rehabilitation center on a daily basis opens ones mind over the condition of the patients, this is based on their interaction with the rehab environmental factors. The rehabilitation center is geared towards helping patients abstain and drop habits that are considered harmful to their wellbeing. The core objective of patient care within such a facility is to provide a holistic environment where they can channel their true selfs and make themselves redeemed again. It is important to take into consideration the condition of the environment in which rehabilitation takes place at. The safety of patients within the rehabilitation center popped up to me as a critical issue of concern. In one out of many occasions, I have witnessed patients losing a step due to slippery floors, steep stairs, and rough pathways. There is need to call action towards the prevention of falls within the rehab facility (Chukwuma, 2014). It is important to adhere to the Fall Prevention Guidelines provided by the US Department of Health and Human Services. In a bid to avoid this issue it is important to address the following:

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Patient falls within the rehab unit majorly possess a threat of injury and bruises that can be minimal or fatal depending on the lethality of the fall. In the cases that I have encountered patients have ended up spraining their legs, others the back of their heads while others just had a major thud on the cold concrete floors. As a nurse, you understand that a fall goes into causing internal injuries that may not be visible at the current time but will affect these individuals at a later stage in life when they are older. It is clear that many patients of different genders and age become victims of this injury traps within the facility. I would recommend that this problem is addressed, personally, I have come up with a raft of measures that we can implement to improve the safety of patients within the rehabilitation center.

There is need to conduct an assessment of the patient's risk factors that may lead to falling, this takes into consideration the age of the patients, their history of a recent fall, comorbidities such as a fracture on the hip, disabilities of any form, urinary problems and need to walk bare feet All these risk factors need to be assessed during the admission of patients to the rehabilitation center (Gray-Miceli, 2012). In order to provide specialized care without the fear of patient injury it is important to consider all the possibilities of patient injury. I propose to conduct an assessment of the patient care environment; this check should be done routinely in order to unearth unknown risk factors. Checks for wet floors, spills, and unevenness of the floor. Another critical part is the aspect of illumination of the rehab facility; all the lights should always be in proper working conditions. The furniture within the rooms of the patients should be sturdy, strong and should be in good shape to accommodate the patient. The washrooms should be fitted with hand rails for easy grabbing in the case of a soapy slide. All the clothes taken out on by patients within the facility should never cause them to trip; all the patients should be fitted with the right size of uniform.

Another critical aspect of the assessment of patient falls within the hospital is the post-fall review. Immediately a patient has fallen it is important to assess the level of injury the patient has gone through. It is crucial that you check out the possible causes of the fall at least within the first 24 hours of the incident. The patient should be assessed for vital signs after the fall, check for the head, hands, legs, and spine and neck injuries. It is important to note the cause of the fall, the circumstances under which they occurred and the time of the day under which it occurred. All the above facts will help develop a better fall prevention program that would see the increase in the investment to patient safety by the rehab facility (Otaka, Morita, Mimura, Uzawa, & Liu, 2016).

As a key takeaway from the above description of the nursing care strategies and assessments that need to be conducted in regards to prevention of patient fall in the rehab center. The use of standardized environmental checklists will help a nurse always to ensure that the environment around the patient is always secure and the patient safety within the rehab is always perfect. The findings of these assessments should be passed to the managerial heads who will, in turn, look into the implementation of the proposed challenges. Solutions to these problems can be pursued by the nurses within the facility of healthcare safety specialists. The maintenance department can go about mending the hot spots; a later re-evaluation can be conducted to ensure that the corrections were done the right way. All the above procedures will assist in ensuring patient safety within the rehabilitation facility, and in the long run, it will cut down the number of patient falls.

References

Chukwuma, J. (2014). Low secure versus locked rehabilitation units: a reflection. Journal Of Psychiatric Intensive Care, 11(02), 73-77. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1742646414000144

Gray-Miceli, D. (2012). Fall prevention. In: Evidence-based geriatric nursing protocols for best practice. | National Guideline Clearinghouse. Guideline.gov. Retrieved 5 December 2016, from https://www.guideline.gov/summaries/summary/43933/Fall-prevention-In-Evidencebased-geriatric-nursing-protocols-for-best-practice

Otaka, Y., Morita, M., Mimura, T., Uzawa, M., & Liu, M. (2016). Establishment of an appropriate fall prevention program: A community-based study. Geriatrics & Gerontology International. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ggi.12831