Evaluation of the Process: Methods and Rationale

Evaluation of the Process
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Evaluation of the Process
Methods and Rationale
The process of hourly rounding is significant in that it is an effective patient safety resource that reduces and prevents the risk of falling among patients. The method used for this study will be retrospective. This method allows for the creation of ideas concerning possible associations together with an investigation of potential relationships. The data collected will then be compared to that of no-rounding practice over a six months period (Goldsack, Bergey, Mascioli, & Cunningham, 2015). The study will require the participation of nurses who will conduct the hourly rounding. However, it is unlikely that the nurses have the proper training to enable them to monitor, analyze, and gather information from the patients throughout the study. Training is therefore necessary before engaging the nurses to ensure that they apply critical thinking while applying the evidence (Quigley, 2015). The training will occur in October after selecting the nurse team. The implementation of hourly rounding will begin from November and end in April. The last week of March will be set aside for presentation and final recommendations. Data collection will involve an hourly rounding log, which the nurses will use to record the time they began and end their hourly rounding, as well as the activities they undertook and their engagement with the patients. Aside from patient fall rates, the data will also help to point out the specific nurses who when on duty, patients are at high risk of falling (Hughes, 2008).
Project Objectives
This project is aimed at confirming the effectiveness of hourly rounding as a method of preventing falls among elderly patients. This will be measured by comparing the outcome with that of another group with the same number of subjects that did not employ the hourly rounding. The comparison will be used to gauge the possible effects of hourly rounding on preventing fall risk among elderly patients. Having analyzed the data, a practice change can then be employed to evaluate the appropriateness of the change, in an actual clinical environment. Nonetheless, if the change is still not appropriate, then it would be best to conduct further investigations (Titler et al., 2001). The time frame for collecting the data is crucial since the study needs to be carried out in a precise period to avoid gathering too little or too much information, which can affect the outcome. In this case, the collection of data will be done over a period of six months, and another 10 days will be set aside for analyzing the data and coming up with the results. Mason (2012) also suggests hourly rounding to address patient indicators such as hydration, pain, and patient satisfaction.
Validity, Reliability, and Applicability
The study will be considered viable by proving the effectiveness of the hourly rounding in reducing falls among elderly patients in a clinical setting. Since the study will be retrospective, the outcomes of the study will be measured against the previous predictions. Reliability involves the consistency of a measure (Heale & Twycross, 2017). Previous studies have indicated that hourly...