Leadership Change Project Framework

The identified change project topic

Discovering innovative approaches to reduce patient injuries caused by falls within medical and surgical departments. The project could be undertaken as part of the Transforming Care at the Bedside initiative (TCAB). Patient falls frequently result in consequences such as fractures, internal bleeding, and wounds. This increases the length of stay, which raises the expense of healthcare for patients (“Transforming Care at the Bedside,” 2017). This project can be carried out by utilizing a care system that takes into account the hospital’s design, communication between healthcare providers, and regular evaluation of events that trigger falls and assessment of actions taken to alleviate the risk.

How the Topic was Determined

This topic was determined by putting into consideration the many falls that occur in health institutions that are easily preventable. The decision-making process used and tools employed involved the use of critical thinking, creative decision making, transformational leadership at all organizational levels and innovation in medical and surgical units to minimize injuries.

Executive summary

This project is focused on ways to reduce patient injuries as a result of falls in medical and surgical units. Falls can be classified into accidental falls, expected physiological falls and unexpected physiological falls (“Transforming Care at the Bedside,” 2017). The project focuses on the main causes of falls, ways to prevent such falls and best practices in fall prevention in medical institutions. It is important for medical and surgical units to institute comprehensive and innovative programs to prevent patient falls. An inclusive program that involves patient evaluation, modification of the hospital environment and training of healthcare staff can result in a major reduction of patient injuries due to falls. These measures can be put into practice at a low cost leading to improved care for patients in medical and surgical units (Needleman, 2010). For this to occur, the root cause of falls in hospital settings must be identified, and innovative ways to prevent these falls need to be identified. Since nurses often interact with patients, they must be equipped with the relevant tools and training to mitigate injuries resulting from falls in surgical and medical units.

References

Needleman, J. (2010). Transforming care at the bedside. PACEsetterS, 7(3), 10-13.

Transforming Care at the Bedside. (2017). Ihi.org. Retrieved 24 June 2017, from http://www.ihi.org/engage/initiatives/completed/TCAB/Pages/default.aspx