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Running head: PICOT STATEMENT AND LITERATURE SEARCH
M. E. Thor
Grand Canyon University
Picot Statement and Literature Search
NRS-433V
August 26, 2018
Picot Statement and Literature Search
Problem Statement
The reasons behind patient falls, a common ongoing problem for nursing staff in hospitals across the country, have varied risks factors based on the patient and is certainly complexed. All hospital patients are at risk of falling at any given time; however, a number of researches have proven that the elderly are at increased risk of falling and sustaining really bad injuries from a fall, which translates to a total of over $30 billion in direct medical costs (Center for Disease Control, 2012); by the year 2020, the estimated cost for injuries related to falls will surpass $67 billion, as a result making it reach the top 20 most expensive medical conditions to date, according to the CDC (2013). The solution to the prevention of patient falls is precise detection of risk factors and taking proactive measures to prevent them by creating a suitable plan of action to implement. The question remains: What evidence-based practice nursing interventions can reduce falls in inpatient adult medical-surgical units?
PICOT Statement
P - Inpatient adults ages 65 and up in medical surgical units adherence to
I - Clinical interventions to reduce fall related injuries
C - Prior number of documented falls to current documented falls
O - Reduced fall rates
T - During their hospital stay
In hospital patients ages 65 and up (P), can the implementation of clinical interventions reduce fall related injuries (I) when compared to prior documented falls to current documented falls (C) result in the reduction of fall rates (O) during hospital stay.
Research Articles
Cangany, Back, Hamilton-Kelly, Altman, and Lacey
This evidence-based approach was published with the Critical Care Nurse Journal in 2015. This study applied an action plan that involved the implementation of fall signs above a fall-prone patient’s bed. This would insist that the signs would increase fall awareness for these patients. This intervention not only meant to decrease falls on a particular unit but also to decrease cost associated with extended length of stay with in-patients’ falls. The unit described in this article was a 30-bed, medical progressive care unit (PCU) in a 200-bed Midwest hospital that primarily provides care for patients with heart disease (Cangany et al., 2015).
Thomas P. Weil
Despite six decades of worldwide efforts that include publishing virtually hundreds of related epidemiological-type studies, there has been an increase (estimated to be 46% per 1000 patient days from 1954–6 to 2006–10) in the number of patient falls in hospitals and other health care facilities. These still occur most frequently near the bedside or in the bathroom, among mentally confused or physically impaired patients, and often involve those with greater comorbidi...
