db UNIT 5IP

Running head: QUANTITATIVE STUDIES ON PATIENT FALLS 0

Quantitative Studies on Patient Falls

Jacquelyn Money

Research Methods for Healthcare

Michael Schmitt

May 23,2017

Quantitative Studies on Patient Falls

Article 1

The journal article, Managing Patient Falls in Psychiatric Inpatient Units: Part 1 provides a quantitative, descriptive study that assess the issue reason for higher numbers of patient falls in hospital’s inpatient psychiatric units compared to the medical-surgical areas. Evidently, the phenomenon of interest in this case is the issue of patient falls where the article looks at the causes of these falls in one department compared to the other (Abraham, 2016). The sample used was appropriate because the study was guided by two specific questions with an online survey used as the tool to collect data from the psychiatric unit directors from the State of Michigan.

The results shows that the participants believed that intrinsic factors were highly associated with the probability of patient falls compared to extrinsic factors (Abraham, 2016). However, the results do not create a clear understanding of the number of participants who made the difference in the study. The conclusion is on point and the implications of the study clearly shows what should be done to prevent falls in the psychiatric units.

Article 2

The journal article Developing a Hospital-Specific Electronic Inpatient Fall Surveillance Program: Phase 1 is study research that looks into the issue of patient falls as a societal problem that should be addressed extensively. It analyzes the perception of the nurses concerning the risk factors that lead to patient falls that may be helpful in developing an electronic patient decision support system. The survey involved 150 nurses in a local hospital in Florida with survey questions employing descriptive statistical approach (Thomas, Jeffrey, Curtis, & UnRuh, 2013). The findings show that the majority of nurses believe that patient-centered and operational factors augmented the risks for patient falls. They gave positive response on the integration of electronic fall surveillance program would help reduce patent falls (Thomas, Jeffrey, Curtis, & UnRuh, 2013). The limitation of the study is that it fails to provide sufficient details on the feasibility of an electronic health record system related to patient falls and thus, further research is required. The conclusion clearly shows that the adaptation of electronic surveillance program would help reduce patient falls in hospitals.

Article 3

The article Cost Effectiveness of a Medical Vigilance System to Reduce Patient Falls provides a systematic study that employs a descriptive statistical approach to demonstrate the effects of using patient vigilance system to prevent falls in hospitals. The study was conducted in a post-neurosurgery unit in a huge acute hospital in the US and involved both patients and nurses (Spetz, Jacobs, & Hatler, 2013). The surveillance system used has a passive sensor array put under the patient in a bed and a bedside unit that connects the sensor to the nurse call system already in the hospitals. The findings indicated that this approach reduce patient falls extensively because the nurse receive prompt alerts and act immediately. The limitation is that the study does not give exact figures of the costs that can be cut once the surveillance system is fully integrated (Spetz, Jacobs, & Hatler, 2013). The conclusion demonstrates that ultimately, the cost of treating patients who have fallen in the hospitals reduces extensively demonstrating the aspect of cost-effectiveness.

Article 4

The article, Reducing patients' falls rate in an Academic Medical Center (AMC) using Six Sigma "DMAIC" Approach looks into the idea of adopting six sigma (DMAIC) to reduce the rate of patient falls in an Academic Medical Center in Saudi Arabia. The approach used is prospective study using the five phases of DMAIC method (Kuwaiti & Subbarayalu, 2017). The findings shows that the pre-intervention fall rate was at 6.57 but the post-intervention falls rate was at 1.91, which indicated 70.93% reduction (Kuwaiti & Subbarayalu, 2017). It clearly shows that the integration of the improvement strategies using the five phases of DMAIC method worked effectively. The limitation is that the method used is not common but the scholars never took their time to explain it comprehensively for the readers to understand it well. However, the conclusion is on point because it illustrates the significance of the improvement strategies in preventing falls in hospitals.

Comparison of Results and Conclusions

Since the essay integrated studies on the same topic, the results seems to lean on one direction. All the four studies provide different approaches that can be used to prevent patient falls in the hospitals across different states in the US. Fortunately, all the studies agree that the issue of patient falls is rampant in the US hospitals but it can be reduced extensively if the right approaches are adapted. The conclusion of each article gives a clear understanding of how the suggested finding can reduce patient falls in hospitals.

Statistical Method Used

Different studies employed different statistical approaches to their researches. The first article employed an online survey statistical approach while articles two and three used descriptive statistical approach. The last article employed DMAIC approach, which is not statistical in nature but proved to be very effectively. Evidently, descriptive statistical approach seems to be the best method consistent with quantitative research because it led to the desired results in the studies assessed.

References

Abraham, S. (2016). Managing patient falls in psychiatric inpatient units: Part 1. The Health Care Manager, 35(1), 21.

Kuwaiti, A. A., & Subbarayalu, A. V. (2017). Reducing patients' falls rate in an academic medical center (AMC) using six sigma "DMAIC" approach. International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, 30(4), 373-384.

Spetz, J., Jacobs, J., & Hatler, C. (2013). Cost effectiveness of a medical vigilance system to reduce patient falls. Nursing Economics, 25(6), 333-8, 352.

Thomas, F., Jeffrey, A., Curtis, D., & UnRuh, L. (2013). Developing a hospital-specific electronic inpatient fall surveillance program: Phase 1. The Health Care Manager, 32(4), 359.