Authors (including presenting author) :
CHAN MY(1)(2), CHAN HC(1)(2), Chan ST(1)(2), CHUNG MF(1)(2), Wong FS(1)(2), Yeung MW(1)(2), KWAN SCW(1)(2), LEE MM(1)(2)
Affiliation :
Nursing Department, Hong Kong Buddhist Hospital (HKBH)
Introduction :
Each year in Sep, the hospital would conduct activities like booth games for staff, patients and relatives to raise awareness on fall injury prevention. Due to the COVID pandemic, a friendly cross ward visit was launched at HKBH to replace booth games for staff engagement.
Objectives :
To engage staff to raise awareness on fall injury prevention via onsite ward visit.
Methodology :
In Sep 2021, fall prevention workgroup members would gather once a week and visit one ward in HKBH. Workgroup members would conduct an overall ward environmental safety round; perform a proactive patient rounding with the ward patient care assistance and go through an audit on nursing standard for patient care related to fall prevention. Immediate feedback on enhancing fall prevention measures would be provided to the staff directly involved. After the visit, a debriefing would be conducted with the workgroup members on their findings, including good practices for sharing with other wards and areas for improvement. A summary of the debriefing would be given to the designated ward manager as feedback on the visit.
Result & Outcome :
Inadequate number of fall prevention bedhead signage cards has been noted in some wards, causing some patients with high fall risk not being flagged with bedhead signage.
The bedhead signage was too small and difficult to be read by frontline staff.
Staff compliance on referring high risk patients to Physiotherapist and Occupational Therapist for fall prevention program was relatively low and workflow had to be reviewed.
Stakeholders reflected difficulties in managing the bed exit alarm system inventory.
Nuisance alarms management from the bed exit alarm system was also discussed during the visits.
Good points: Cross ward visit could promote a sense of standardization on quality care within the hospital. Members from each ward assess the visit area with their “fresh eyes” as outsiders. Peer-based approach engages staff through cooperative learning. It enhances peer workgroup members to gain confidence on their assessment and coaching skills. Team-based approach visit enhances diverse thinking and discussion. The visits are cost effectiveness as no prearranged manpower was required and the ward operation was not affected. Findings are being followed and have been reported at the HKBH fall prevention management meeting. Rather than extracting the staff to join booth games out of the ward area, cross ward visit can engage the staff onsite and can share their workload by providing inputs on their patient assessment and management plan on fall prevention.
