Document Type
Dissertation
Degree
Doctor of Nursing Practice
Major
Nursing
Date of Defense
7-9-2024
Graduate Advisor
Charity Galgani
Committee
Emily Winn
Kristen Chandler
Abstract
Problem: Intentional hourly rounding improves patient safety and can impact patient fall rates. At a pediatric hospital in suburban Missouri, the fall rate is 25%. This quality improvement project worked to implement a standardized intentional hourly rounding process at a pediatric hospital to bolster their fall prevention program.
Methods: This quality improvement project was conducted using a descriptive, observational design utilizing patient chart review and hospital quality department records. The setting was a 60-bed pediatric hospital in the Midwest with 2 inpatient units that specializes in chronic, complex care. The sample was a convenience sample of 92 male and female patients ages 0-23 years of age admitted at the time of project implementation. The project focused on implementing intentional hourly rounding on two inpatient units. The 5 P’s (pain, position, potty, possessions, and pathways) was the chosen standardization. The project ran for 12-weeks from January to March. Fall rates were tracked as well as the safety metric of safe bed heights to analyze how intentional hourly rounding impacted patient safety.
Results: The fall rate prior to implementation was 25%. After the twelve-week project, the fall rate was 19.5%. The p-value was 0.45. Of inpatient beds, 87.9% were found at a safe height which was almost 5% more than prior to implementation.
Implications for Practice: Future quality improvement projects should be done to continue evaluating for patient safety improvement and fall rate reduction. A longer project time would allow for a larger sample size and greater information to analyze.
Recommended Citation
Bernard, Margaret, "Implementation of Intentional Hourly Rounding at Pediatric Hospital" (2024). Dissertations. 1435.
https://irl.umsl.edu/dissertation/1435