Pressure Injury Prevention:
Cape Cod Hospital conducts pressure injury prevalence studies monthly, and the results are reviewed by Nurse Managers, Clinical Leaders, Department of Nursing leadership, Clinical Education, and the Quality Department. Our efforts to prevent pressure injuries focus on routine skin assessments and identification of patients at risk for pressure injuries to determine the implementation of appropriate prevention strategies. A wound care class is offered regularly for registered nurses to advance their competence in assessment, care, and prevention strategies. New products for the prevention and treatment of pressure injuries are researched on an ongoing basis, and acquired as appropriate, with a focus on promoting continuity of care between the hospital and the outpatient wound care center. Nursing, Quality, and Clinical Education staff also work closely with the IT department to modify and improve documentation options for skin assessments, to increase the accuracy of recording and staging pressure injuries. These initiatives are on-going, and regularly updated or revised, based on data from our monthly prevalence studies and feedback from Nursing, as part of Cape Cod Hospital’s commitment to continuous quality and safety in patient care.
Fall Prevention:
Cape Cod Hospital is committed to eliminating all patient falls, and has initiated a hospital-wide multidisciplinary Fall Team that includes nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy, pharmacy, ancillary staff, and outpatient departments. Each floor has a representative as a “fall champion.” The team meets monthly to review all patient falls for trends, prevention, and opportunities for improvement. In addition, the team reviews current literature for evidence-based practice initiatives, and has implemented new or improved strategies based on these findings. All patients are assessed for their risk for falls on admission and on every shift. This information is communicated during the nurse to nurse handoff and at shift huddles. Purposeful hourly rounding is just one of the strategies used for fall prevention. A new communication tool includes the entire healthcare team and the patient and family, to individualize the patient’s fall prevention plan while hospitalized, and is posted in the patient’s room. Fall prevention practices are audited regularly, to ensure their successful implementation and evaluate their effectiveness.
|
| 11 August 2022 |
|
