Philippine E-Journals

Use of the Patient Fall Prevention Reminder Checklist to Increase Health Care Provider Awareness at the Philippine Children’s Medical Center

Jacqueline G. Marquez | Maria Eva I. Jopson

Discipline: medicine by specialism

 

Abstract:

BACKGROUND: Falls in the hospital are preventable. Prevention of fall requires cooperation from the health care provider, caregivers, as well as the hospital administration. This study was done to utilize standard reminders for fall to increase the awareness of health care providers of a tertiary hospital for children. OBJECTIVES: To determine the effectiveness of the Patient Fall Prevention Reminder Checklist in increasing the awareness of health care providers of patients admitted at the Philippine Children’s Medical Center. METHODOLOGY: After obtaining permission to use an established Patient Fall Prevention Reminder checklist from the Intermountain Health Care (USA), participants were recruited after giving their informed consent. A pre-test was conducted to gauge the awareness and practices of the participants in preventing falls in the hospital. After the pre-test, the tool was introduced and discussed by the author to the participants. After 7 days, the participantswere followed up to take the post-test. Data collected were encoded then analyzed throughdescriptive statistics. RESULTS: There were one hundred twenty-one (121) respondents with 42 males and 79 females. There is an increase in awareness in fall prevention amongthe residents and nurses, based on their pre and post-test examination results. The midwives had previous awareness in preventing falls even prior to the study. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS: The checklist served as an effective tool in increasing the awareness of most study participants. We recommend the establishment of an institutionalized Fall Prevention Reminder Checklist at the Philippine Children’s Medical Center for use by health care personnel.