Running Head: Hourly Rounds and Patient Falls 1

Keeping patients safe while they are in the hospital is a priority to all members of the healthcare team. Patient falls contribute to a greater length of stay for the patient and contribute to increased injuries and longer periods of time before they can regain independence. It can also result in them being out of work longer than anticipated. "The average hospital stays for patients who fall is 12.3 days longer, and injuries from falls lead to a 61 percent increase in patient care costs" (American Nurse Today, March, 2011) Nationally, hospitals are now being threatened with the possibility of not being reimbursed for injuries resulting from falls.

Two nursing students at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences researched the need for hourly rounding to prevent patient falls and injury.

While the reason for falls may vary, one way proposed to reduce patient falls was hourly nursing rounds on the patients.

Armed with The Joint Commissions' National Safety Goals and the nurse's concern over the safety of their patients, a decision was made that hourly rounding should be implemented and that this would decrease the number of falls. Specific questions identified were: Is there a difference between every two-hour rounding and every one-hour rounding? Who should perform these rounds? How much of a difference will these rounds make"? Nientimp and Peterson found that, "nurse's physical presence is essential to keeping patients safe". Many patients did not want to bother the nurse or feared that if they relied on
Running Head: Hourly Rounds and Patient Falls