Home
Resource
The implementation of call bells and exit alarms on a psychiatric unit
PDF
PDF format is widely accepted and good for printing.
Plug-in required
PDF-1(1.16 MB)
Citation & Export
View Usage Statistics
Staff View

Citation & Export
Hide

Simple citation

Bardall, Morgan E.. The implementation of call bells and exit alarms on a psychiatric unit. Retrieved from https://doi.org/doi:10.7282/t3-h7ft-q769

Export

Click here for information about Citation Management Tools at Rutgers.

Statistics
Hide

Description

TitleThe implementation of call bells and exit alarms on a psychiatric unit
NameBardall, Morgan E. (author); Heider, Gerti (chair); Garzon-Rivera, Claudia (co-chair); Bagchi, Ann (internal member); Rutgers University; School of Nursing - RBHS
Date Created2020
Other Date2020-05 (degree)
SubjectPsychiatric hospitals, Psychiatric/Mental Health Nurse Practitioner
Extent1 online resource (79 pages) : illustrations
DescriptionPurpose of Project:
Fall prevention is a long-standing challenge in many areas of healthcare. While millions have been spent to develop techniques to reduce falls for patients on medical units. This is not the case in psychiatric units. There is a severe lack in implementable research-based techniques currently used to reduce falls in psychiatric units, especially at the bedside and in the bathroom. This project implemented research-based tools that are widely used in medical units to test their effectiveness in falls reduction in psychiatric units.

Methodology:
Exit alarms and call bells were provided to patients that were considered high risk according to the psychiatric specific Wilson Sims Fall Scale. The project examined if these tools are helpful to reduce falls. It documented the effects on perceived nursing workload and on improved communication of patient needs to staff. The project was conducted in four phases: Education, Deployment, Survey, and Data analysis. The number of and location of falls during the four months before and after implementation of the intervention were compared, as well as nominal data from the reasons for eligible patients not receiving the intervention. Nominal data from the survey was also analyzed. The study examined open ended log and survey data to identify any patterns in responses.

Results:
Results of falls date showed an overall reduction of falls, but statistical significance could not be established. Falls data showed a reduction of falls in the bedroom and bathroom. Nursing Survey revealed that nurses felt that call bells and exit alarms are helpful to communicate their patients’ needs, helped to prevent patients from falling, and that both exit alarms and call bells more effective in preventing falls than either one intervention individually. Nurse were evenly split on if they felt that using call bells and exit alarms had reduced work load.

Implications for Practice:
Call bells and exit alarms in patients who are high fall risk may be effective tools, Are accepted by nurses, and there is evidence to further study them.The unit had decided to continue their use, but further expanded testing is necessary to substantiate significant results of the falls reduction. After further testing, considerations will be made to spread their use throughout the hospital system. This has the potential to save money on costly falls and reductions in reimbursement, which should also be studied in the future. Further study is needed to provide significant results that support improvements in patient care and safety with fewer falls and potential cost savings for the hospital system.
NoteDNP
NoteIncludes bibliographical references
Genretheses, ETD doctoral
Persistent URLhttps://doi.org/doi:10.7282/t3-h7ft-q769
LanguageEnglish
CollectionSchool of Nursing (RBHS) DNP Projects
Organization NameRutgers, The State University of New Jersey
RightsThe author owns the copyright to this work.
Version 8.5.5
Rutgers University Libraries - Copyright ©2024