Authors (including presenting author) :
Lam CH(1), Leung SM(1), Tans WH(1), Tsui A (1), Chan FS(1)(2), Law KY(1)(2)
Affiliation :
(1)Medicine - Geriatrics Unit,Our Lady of Maryknoll Hospital
(2) Surgical Unit,Our Lady of Maryknoll Hospital
Introduction :
In hospital fall prevention, nurses are on the front line and play a vital role in preventing patients from falls. Nurses' knowledge regarding fall prevention is one of the main contributing factors to the success of inpatient fall prevention practices. Therefore, nurses should have adequate knowledge regarding fall prevention.
In addition, knowing nurses' views on time well spent or wasted when implementing a new fall prevention program allows hospitals to correct for problems that squander time and enhance those components that boost effectiveness.
This study is to explore the correlation between nurses' knowledge of fall prevention and perception of burdens imposed on them by using the Fall Prevention Bundle Program and fall incidents among inpatients.
Objectives :
1. To explore the level of nurses' fall-prevention knowledge for inpatients.
2. To explore the perception of burdens imposed on nurses by using the Fall Prevention Bundle Program.
3. To explore the correlation between nurses ' knowledge of fall prevention and perception of the Fall Prevention Bundle Program and fall incidents among inpatients.
Methodology :
An observational study (cross-sectional study) is used to explore nurses' fall knowledge and perception of the Fall Prevention Bundle Program and examine the relationships between nurses' fall-prevention knowledge and perception of the Fall Prevention Bundle Program for the inpatients in Our Lady of Maryknoll Hospital.
Data collection will be conducted among nurses working in both the medical and surgical wards in the Our Lady of Maryknoll Hospital by using the questionnaires in T0, T1 and T2 respectively. The validated 11-items Fall Prevention Knowledge Test (FPKT) and 13-items Fall Prevention Efficiency Scale (FPES) will be used as the questionnaires for the subjects. Lastly, the researchers will code and score the questionnaires.
Result & Outcome :
The level of nurses' knowledge of fall prevention
The statistical analysis showed that the average scores of the FPKT among the participants were at an intermediate level (scores between 4-7 were regarded as an intermediate level). The statistical analysis showed that the mean score of the FPKT had a significant relationship between T0 and T1(r=0.581, p=0.000); T0 and T2 (r=0.270, p=0.013), and T1 and T2(r=-0.357, p=0.001), which p<0.05 is considered as statistically significant. There was an improving trend in participants' fall knowledge during the study period (T0: 4.90; T1: 5.12; T2: 5.28).
The perceptions of nurses on the Fall Prevention Bundle Program
Meanwhile, the results showed that the FPES was slightly improved from T0 to T1 (37.51 to 38.00) and slightly decreased from T1 to T2(38.00 to 37.78) among the participants. The statistical analysis also showed that the mean score of the FPES had a significant relationship between T0 and T1(r=0.411, p=0.000); T0 and T2(r=0.241, p=0.028), but no significant relationship was noted between T1 and T2(r=0.172, p=0.120).
Furthermore, the statistical analysis also indicated that there was not a statistically significant change found in the correlation between FPKT & FPES.
The mean of FPKT, FPES, and inpatient fall rates
The results showed that the mean of FPKT showed an upward trend from T0 to T2, but there was no negative relationship between nurses' knowledge of fall prevention and inpatient fall rates.
Also, it showed that there was no significant change in the mean scores of FPES during the study period. There was no negative relationship between nurses' perception of the Fall Prevention Bundle Program and inpatient fall rates. Therefore, it could not conclude that there was a significant correlation between the mean FPES and inpatient fall rates.
