FALLS AND FALLS WITH INJURY
At Caritas St. Elizabeth’s Hospital, our staff is committed to safe care for all of our patients. We have a comprehensive fall prevention plan in place, and we continue to implement national best practices to improve our fall rate.
We have many adult inpatient units where the fall rate, and falls with injury rate are far less than the state and national averages.
We do a fall risk assessment on admission for all of our patients, and we reassess their risk every shift throughout their stay. If a patient is identified at high risk, we have specific interventions which we put in place. We have a multidisciplinary falls task force which is constantly working to improve care to our patients. We are doing hospital wide education over the next few weeks to continue to work with our staff on improvement strategies to continue to decrease patient falls.
PRESSURE ULCER PREVALENCE
Caritas St. Elizabeth's hospital is committed to eliminating pressure ulcers. Our dedication and focus in this effort involves constant education, vigilant review of pressure ulcer risk assessment, and implementation of aggressive prevention protocols. We have purchased pressure relieving mattresses for our beds, and have implemented changes in our documentation tools to insure there is twenty-four hour/day focus on prevention of pressure ulcers by all staff. A team of unit based nurses, nutrition services and physical therapy meet regularly to review and implement best practices for pressure ulcer prevention. Patients’ skin, and risk factors are assessed daily by a Registered Nurse, and best practice interventions are put in place for every patient who is identified at risk.
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