Facilitating Lewin\u27s change model with collaborative evaluation in promoting evidence based practices of health professionals

Evidence based practices (EBPs) in clinical settings interact with and adapt to host organizational characteristics. The contextual factors themselves, surrounding health professions’ practices, also adapt as practices become sustained. The authors assert the need for better planning models toward these contextual factors, the influence of which undergird a well-documented science to practice gap in literature on EBPs. The mechanism for EBP planners to anticipate contextual effects as programs Unfreeze their host settings, create Movement, and become Refrozen (Lewin, 1951) is present in Lewin\u27s 3-step change model. Planning for contextual change appears equally important as planning for the actual practice outcomes among providers and patients. Two case studies from a Geriatric Education Center network will illustrate the synthesis of Lewin\u27s three steps with collaborative evaluation principles. The use of the model may become an important tool for continuing education evaluators or organizations beginning a journey toward EBP demonstration projects in clinical settings

Use of a comprehensive postfall assessment tool to prevent falls

Nursing research in fall prevention should not only identify etiologic risk factors to fall, but seek to identify underlying causes, whenever possible. Few studies have investigated the use of a comprehensive post fall assessment tool (PFAT) by nurses as an intervention for the prevention of recurrent falls, especially one that prompts nurses to consider all potential causes through a categorization scheme. This study tested use of a comprehensive PFAT as an intervention, prospectively, facility-wide for 1 year by RNs using a pre-post-test design. A 29.4% reduction in the fall rate (z=3.89; p <0.001), 27.6% decline in total falls experienced by all fallers (p<0.001) and a 34.0% decline for recurrent fallers (p = 0.025) from pre-intervention to intervention year was observed when trained nurses categorized falls according to perceived causes. These declines are likely due to consistent and rigorous use by trained nursing staff, prompting their critical examination of each fall.Peer reviewe

Ambulatory assisted living fallers at greatest risk for head injury

OBJECTIVES: To determine the relationship between head injuries sustained during each fall with various known high risk health and demographic factors predictive of falls. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study conducted over 1 year SETTING: Assisted living and skilled nursing units of a Continuing Care Retirement Community located in the northeastern United States. PARTICIPANTS: Sixty nine OAs who fell. MEASUREMENTS: Age, gender, diagnosis, high risk medication, functional, cognitive, ambulation/elimination status, mode of locomotion, fall related symptoms and the position of the fall, were analyzed using General Estimating Equations among elderly fallers with and without head injury. RESULTS: A total of 173 falls (average of 2.9 times) were observed for 62 patients who had complete injury data. Injuries were recorded in 40.5% of falls, with 41.4% being head injuries. Head injuries were more likely to be hematomas than lacerations (66.7% vs. 14.7%) and among assisted living residents (p=0.04). Head injured patients were more likely to be walking at the time of the fall (69% vs. 36.1%) and less likely to have bowel incontinence (3.5% vs. 28.5%; p=0.04). None of the high risk diagnosis or medications associated with falls risk increased risk for head injury. CONCLUSION: Those at greatest risk for head injury were ambulatory assisted living residents. None of the known clinical conditions predictive of risk to fall were predictive of head injury. For head injury prevention to be successful we need a closer examination of resident’s mobility, shoe-wear, health behavior with respect to ability to use assistive devices, and floor surface landing area. Future health policy implications include measures to ensure standard of care practices for head injured patients are in place.This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Gray-Miceli, D. L., Ratcliffe, S. J. and Thomasson, A. (2013), Ambulatory Assisted Living Fallers at Greatest Risk for Head Injury. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 61: 1817–1819, which has been published in final form at https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jgs.12467. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.Peer reviewe

Teaching Strategies for Atypical Presentation of Illness in Older Adults

Atypical presentation of illness is one of those phenomena where “seeing is believing”. Expert geriatric nurses and clinicians know all to well the early signs and symptoms of this frequent masquerader of bacterial infections, pain, acute myocardial infarction, heart failure or other serious medical ailments in older adults. Students however, as novices to clinical practice, require interactive learning approaches to reflect on the client’s illness presentations, help with developing the necessary skills to analyze and synthesize clinically relevant data, and to witness resolution of an atypical presentation when found and treated. We discuss various learner-centered, interactive approaches to teach students how to recognize an atypical presentation of illness using a real-life clinical case. Outlined are teaching strategies for faculty, drawn on visual, auditory, reading and kinesthetic modes of student learning. Use of the senses to teach nurses about care of patient’s is not entirely new or innovative, as reflected on by Florence Nightingale’s (1846) earliest writings of the "rules of nursing".Peer reviewe

Current Approaches to Post-fall Assessment in Nursing Homes

Falls in nursing homes occur among a large percentage of residents. Their onset necessitates a postfall assessment (PFA) be performed by clinical staff to determine likely etiology. The absence of an empirically validated comprehensive postfall assessment tool has led to considerable variability in the types of PFAs performed. The purpose of this study was to examine the types of PFA tools available, their content, and to compare this with national recommendations for fall assessment in geriatric practice.Peer reviewe

Improving the quality of geriatric nursing care: Enduring outcomes from the Geriatric Nursing Education Consortium

The nation's aging demographics, few nursing faculty with gero-expertise, and insufficient geriatric content in nursing programs has created a national imperative to increase the supply of nurses qualified to provide care for older adults. GNEC, the Geriatric Nursing Education Consortium, a collaborative program of the John A. Hartford Foundation, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, and the NYU Nursing Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing was initiated to provide faculty with the necessary skills, knowledge, and competency to implement sustainable curricular innovations in care of older adults. This article describes the background, processes, and development of GNEC evidence-based curricular materials, and the dissemination of these materials through six, two and a half day national Faculty Development Institutes (FDIs). Eight hundred eight faculty, representing 418 schools of nursing, attended an FDI. A total of 479 individuals responded to an evaluation conducted by Baruch College that showed faculty feasibility to incorporate GNEC content into courses, confidence in teaching and incorporating content, and overall high rating of the GNEC materials. The impact of GNEC is discussed along with effects on faculty participants over two years. Administrative and faculty level recommendations to sustain and expand GNEC are highlighted.Peer reviewe