The Falls Management Program
Falls are quite frequent in the nursing facilities, and if not checked, they can bring serious consequences, particularly to older people. Falls contribute to spinal cord injuries while older people who suffer fractured hip for one year have a mortality rate of 20% (Bauman et al., 2014). The Falls Management Program (FMP) has been utilized in numerous healthcare centers as a quality improvement initiative. The purpose of FMP is to assist nursing facilities to offer individualized, patient-centered care, in addition to enhancing their fall care processes through training and quality improvement tools. FMP would offer procedure and guidelines to the residents and clients in the healthcare on the risk for falls.
Although FMP should be designed for the hospitalized patients, it usually targets all residents within the healthcare environment. These residents include nurses, doctors, subordinate staff, patients, and visitors. Every individual in the healthcare environment can accidentally fall due to medical side effects, aging effects, environmental hazards, chronic ailments, and unsafe equipment. Up to 30% of all falls within the hospital environment may result in damage that include fractures, head damage, and soft tissue trauma (Wexler et al., 2011).
Implementing FMP is beneficial to both the organization and patients, as the organization will save on costs that it could incur in treating falling cases. Fall-related injuries can be managed through FMP through encouraging mobility and functionality. Implementation of a standardized FMP will help healthcare staff to enlarge the culture of safety, which transforms their attitudes and behaviors towards falls. The program will also enable the organization to evaluate staff safety performance and emphasize on the essence of fall management.
Every program incurs costs in its application and implementation. To implement the program, the organization needs to hire a qualified trainer for a whole year. The trainer would earn a monthly salary of $4200. The organization may opt to take at least three employees for three-month training, which would cost about $ 16,000. A number of equipments, which include patient safety wear, mobility aids walking sticks, patient safety alarms, bed-related equipments , and fall management kits, would cost the organization $102,000. The organization also needs to place some ads in the wards and administration block. These ads would cost $2,500. Printed brochures would also be required for a cost of $1000. Other miscellaneous costs can add up to $2200.
An effective management should be consistent with the organization’s injury prevention policy. FMP can be evaluated by recording the number of falls that has occurred within the organization in a month, and the cost incurred in managing such falls. The organization will realize that it would be saving costs by implementing FMP, rather than assuming the risks of falls. I would like to share this proposal with the management of this organization, who I believe, would understand the essence of such program. I am available to answer any question concerning FMP, and have given a room for improvement. With the highlighted benefits, FMP is likely to be approved after the proposal, as the organization will have realized the challenges it as faced without the program.
Every program has its strengths and weaknesses. Some of the strengths of FMP are that the program has the capacity to extend life, as it aims at reducing risks of fall. The program enables organizations to minimize costs related to falls and offers guideline on observing safety. Some of the weaknesses of FMP are lack of long-term goal, as patients will keep on leaving the facility before finishing the training. The organization may not have adequate resources to fund the program. I believe the strengths surpass the weaknesses; thus, implementing the program would benefit the organization more that it would cause harm.
References
Bauman, C. A., Milligan, J. D., Patel, T., Pritchard, S., Labreche, T., Dillon-Martin, S., & … Riva, J. J. (2014). Community-based falls prevention: lessons from an Interprofessional Mobility Clinic. Journal Of The Canadian Chiropractic Association, 58(3), 300-311.
Wexler, S. S., D’Amico, C. O., Foster, N., Cataldo, K. A., Brody, P., & Huang, Z. (2011). The Ruby Red Slipper Program: An Interdisciplinary Fall Management Program in a Community Academic Medical Center. MEDSURG Nursing, 20(3), 129-133.