Nurse-Sensitive Indicators and Patient Outcomes Summary

Nurse-Sensitive Indicators and Patient Outcomes
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Nurse-Sensitive Indicators and Patient Outcomes
In-Patient Falls
Patient falls constitute a hospital-acquired condition (HAC) that causes significant inpatient injuries and even mortality. A patient fall is an accidental descent to the ground without or with injury to the client. Falls prevention and protection from injuries are an organizational problem that needs to be handled by all hospital professionals who could encounter an individual at risk of a fall. Preventing falls and mitigating injuries is a complex and challenging activity. Mostly, healthcare organizations have constraining priorities that place protection from injury and fall prevention management as a critical part of the nursing process. Protection from injury and fall prevention should be an organization-wide activity. All healthcare professionals and employees understand their impact and their role in cultivating a safety culture (Patient Safety Movement, 2020, p.4). This paper evaluates nurse-sensitive indicators for in-patient falls and delineates an appropriate care plan to improve patient outcomes.
Nurse-Sensitive Indicators for Falls
The “nursing-sensitive indicators” concept is vital in elaborating nursing care outcomes (Heslop, Lu, & Xu, 2014, p.2469). In this vein, nursing-sensitive indicators could imply nursing quality indicators that assess nurse’s contributions to positive patient outcomes and quality care (Lockhart, 2018, p.1). Nursing quality indicators related to falls include fall prevention practices and fall rates. Fall prevention practices and fall rates need to be tracked and counted as a crucial quality improvement initiative component. By monitoring performance, nurses determine whether care is staying the same, improving, or deteriorating in response to change practice efforts (Ganz et al., 2013, p.68). Further, constant monitoring facilitates understanding of where the nurse is starting from and whether their improvement fails are sustainable.
Nursing-sensitive indicators for falls are linked to nursing policy outcomes and processes. Fall rates are outcome indicators since they reflect patient results that are nursing sensitive as they rely on the quality and quantity of nursing care. The patient fall outcome is also linked to other medical care components and is not viewed to be nursing sensitive – these include hospital readmission rates. Fall rates are process indicators since they assess nursing interventions and patient assessments related to injuries or fractures due to falls. The nurses are also satisfied when their patients show positive progress after their pain management and care interventions (Lockhart, 2018, p.1).
How Nurse-Sensitive Indicators Improve Outcomes
In fall prevention and improvement efforts, the nurse should evaluate fall prevention practices and fall rates regularly. It is recommended that the nurse regularly monitor: (a) outcomes (falls per 1,000 occupied hospital bed stays), (b) at least two or one care process (for example, fall risk factors assessment and actions to mitigate fall risks), and (c) crucial facets o...