Call Light Responsiveness and Effect on Inpatient Falls and Patient Perceptions. Inclusive Dates: 09/30/09 - 09/29/11.

摘要

Hospital inpatient falls are among the most frequently reported incidents and are a significant cause of hospital-acquired injuries. Many inpatient falls cause little or no harm, but falls can sometimes lead to severe injuries (e.g., hip fractures, head traumas). Inpatient falls can lead to injury, prolonged stays, lack of patient independence, and additional resource expense. It is well recognized that falls have many causes and a multifactorial nature, including impaired cognition, history of falling, mobility, gait and balance, and dependence in activities of daily living. The contribution of nurse response time to call lights has not been studied systematically as a contributor to falls in hospitals. As a result, this study is proposed to examine the contribution of response time to call lights in predicting falls, injuries from falls, and patient perceptions about call light response time in adult noncritical care inpatient settings. The overall goal is to generate insights about call light responsiveness and its relationship with falls and patient satisfaction to develop and test interventions to reduce call light response time, fall rates, and injuries from falls. As for policy relevance, the Partnership for Patients (launched by the Obama Administration) estimated that 25% of fall injuries can be prevented. The goal set by the Partnership for Patients for hospitals is to cut the number of preventable fall injuries in half by 2013 or 43,750 fall injuries over 3 years. In addition, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that beginning in fiscal 2013, the Hospital Value-based Purchasing Program will start applying to payments for discharges occurring on or after October 1, 2012. CMS will make value-based incentive payments to acute care hospitals. The payments will be based either on how well the hospitals perform on certain quality measures or how much the hospitals' performance improves on certain quality measures from their performance during a baseline period.