Doctor of Nursing Practice Program

• Committee Chair Name & Credentials:
  Debra Arnow, DNP , RN, NEA-BC
 

 

DNP Project Abstract

Analysis of Virtual Patient Safety Monitoring and the Impact on Patient Falls

Purpose
Determine the variation in virtual patient safety monitoring program practice to determine the effects on patient falls from virtual programs established in 2019 to quarter 4 of 2022.

Methods
This project utilized the PDSA cycle to develop a needs assessment in Microsoft Forms that was distributed to facility nursing leadership with and without virtual monitoring programs. The assessment was distributed to nursing leaders at 15 acute care hospitals in the Northern Florida region of the United States in October 2022.

Descriptive statistics were used to measure the following: percentage of facilities using validated fall risk assessment tools, percentage of facilities using escalation and de-escalation criteria, percentage of facilities with specific patient reassessment frequency processes defined, falll with injury /1000 patient days pre and post virtual monitoring program launch.

Results
The needs assessment was completed by 100% (n-15) of the North Florida Division Hospitals.

• 27% (n-4) of North Florida facilities had a Virtual Patient Safety monitoring program. Falls with injury/1000 patient days showed improvement at Hospital D only. Falls with injury/1000 patient days at Hospitals A,B,C did not show an improved trend
• 93% (n-15) had defined escalation and de-escalation criteria
• 100% (n-15) utilize the validated Morse fall risk assessment tool
• 53% (n-15) of the facilities utilize defined specific reassessment frequency
• 80 % (n-15) of the North Florida facilities have a defined leader responsible for approving a patient safety attendant, however, the level of leadership escalation varies
• 75% (n-4) of the facilities with virtual monitoring have a defined level of leadership escalation

Implications for Practice
Hospital D showed a trend of improvement and would be a facility that could be studied for successful virtual program implementation. A structured rigorous pilot utilizing hospital D processes could be implemented at Hospitals A, B & C to determine the ability to scale, and generalizability in the data.