Running head: PROFESSIONAL CAPSTONE AND PRACTICUM 1 PROFESSIONAL CAPSTONE AND PRACTICUM 5 Falls and Related Injuries Nanah Kamara GCU Falls and Related Injuries Nurses, being the initial contacts for patients in any most health facilities and the fact they interact or engage with patients more when compared to other providers of care constitute a critical component of the healthcare system. Consequently, nurses play a much huge role in making sure that the healthcare system provides not only safe care but also and care of high standard or quality (Sato, Hase, Osaka, Sairyo & Katoh, 2018). However one of the major healthcare or nursing issue over the years is the fall and associated injuries which have proved not only difficult for healthcare providers and facility to manage. For instance, and according to DuPree, Fritz-Campiz & Musheno, (2014), Unintentional falls constitute the highest cause of non-fatal injuries among people over 65 years in the US. Moreover, one in every three individuals above 65 years falls at least one time in a given year. In addition, injuries from falls cause the highest number of accidental deaths among people 65-year-old and above (Tricco, Thomas, Veroniki, Hamid, Cogo, Strifler & Riva, 2017). Such statistics coupled with the extent of the costs associated with fall call for proper intervention to reduce falls and their associated injuries. For instance, the government spends billions of dollars on fall and their associated injuries on treating falls. The prevention of fall would provide increased funds for investment in other social programs aimed at improving both healthcare and addressing social or communal problems (Zakrajsek, Schuster, Wells, Williams & Silverchanz, 2018). In addition, falls and their related injuries are responsible for almost 15% of the recorded hospitalization. This increases the burden of healthcare providers especially given the numerous stressors like staff shortage, huge workloads, leadership problems and personal factors among others. An increase in falls and associated injury, therefore, is detrimental to the provision of quality care as captured under the healthy 2020 program goal of reducing deaths that result from falls. Despite this falls are very complex and difficult to manage or prevent. Given the implications that falls bear on the patients, the healthcare providers and the healthcare system as a whole (Joseph, Henriksen & Malone, 2018), there has been increased There has been an increased research focus towards fall prevention and reduction strategies. As a result, there exist a significant amount of literature regarding the reduction and prevention of falls. However, the literature regarding the topic I inconclusive and hence makes the study both significant and relevant. Given the background to the association between falls, their associated injuries and improved nursing, this study seeks to explore whether indeed whether awareness creation regarding falls and the ...

1. Running head: PROFESSIONAL CAPSTONE AND
PRACTICUM 1
PROFESSIONAL CAPSTONE AND PRACTICUM 5
Falls and Related Injuries
Nanah Kamara
GCU
Falls and Related Injuries
Nurses, being the initial contacts for patients in any most health
facilities and the fact they interact or engage with patients more
when compared to other providers of care constitute a critical
component of the healthcare system. Consequently, nurses play
a much huge role in making sure that the healthcare system
provides not only safe care but also and care of high standard or
quality (Sato, Hase, Osaka, Sairyo & Katoh, 2018). However
one of the major healthcare or nursing issue over the years is
the fall and associated injuries which have proved not only
difficult for healthcare providers and facility to manage.
For instance, and according to DuPree, Fritz-Campiz &
Musheno, (2014), Unintentional falls constitute the highest
cause of non-fatal injuries among people over 65 years in the
US. Moreover, one in every three individuals above 65 years
falls at least one time in a given year. In addition, injuries from
falls cause the highest number of accidental deaths among
people 65-year-old and above (Tricco, Thomas, Veroniki,
Hamid, Cogo, Strifler & Riva, 2017). Such statistics coupled
with the extent of the costs associated with fall call for proper
intervention to reduce falls and their associated injuries. For

2. instance, the government spends billions of dollars on fall and
their associated injuries on treating falls. The prevention of fall
would provide increased funds for investment in other social
programs aimed at improving both healthcare and addressing
social or communal problems (Zakrajsek, Schuster, Wells,
Williams & Silverchanz, 2018).
In addition, falls and their related injuries are responsible for
almost 15% of the recorded hospitalization. This increases the
burden of healthcare providers especially given the numerous
stressors like staff shortage, huge workloads, leadership
problems and personal factors among others. An increase in
falls and associated injury, therefore, is detrimental to the
provision of quality care as captured under the healthy 2020
program goal of reducing deaths that result from falls.
Despite this falls are very complex and difficult to manage or
prevent. Given the implications that falls bear on the patients,
the healthcare providers and the healthcare system as a whole
(Joseph, Henriksen & Malone, 2018), there has been increased
There has been an increased research focus towards fall
prevention and reduction strategies. As a result, there exist a
significant amount of literature regarding the reduction and
prevention of falls. However, the literature regarding the topic I
inconclusive and hence makes the study both significant and
relevant.
Given the background to the association between falls, their
associated injuries and improved nursing, this study seeks to
explore whether indeed whether awareness creation regarding
falls and the available strategies can improve the practice of
nursing and consequently better healthcare provision and patient
outcomes. To achieve this, the study will be developed using
the procedures of evidence-based solutions which involve
problem identification, data collection, data analysis and report
writing. The PICOT question for the study was whether the
creating of awareness regarding safety measures, tools and
systems and policies among nurses reduces the prevalence of
falls and the related injuries.

3. The preceding section provides a breakdown of the components
in the PICOT question for the study.
P: P or in the population for the study will be nurses
I: Intervention- the development and implementation of an
awareness program for nurses.
C: Comparison- Nurses who do not go through the awareness
programs.
O: Outcome- Reduced falls, Increased awareness among nurses.
T:Time- 6 months
In conducting the study, a literature review of available
documentation regarding awareness creation and hospital falls
was carried out with a focus on obtaining data to answer the
PICOT question. To ensure that the information collected was
not only valid but also accurate, relevant and reliable all
sources selected for the study had to have been peer-reviewed.
In addition, the sources had to have been developed recently to
provide information that was up to date.
References
DuPree, E., Fritz-Campiz, A., & Musheno, D. (2014). A new
approach to preventing falls with injuries. Journal of nursing
care quality, 29(2), 99-102.
Guirguis-Blake, J. M., Michael, Y. L., Perdue, L. A., Coppola,
E. L., & Beil, T. L. (2018). Interventions to prevent falls in
older adults: updated evidence report and systematic review for
the US Preventive Services Task Force. Jama, 319(16), 1705-
1716.
Joseph, A., Henriksen, K., & Malone, E. (2018). The
architecture of safety: An emerging priority for improving
patient safety. Health Affairs, 37(11), 1884-1891.
Sato, N., Hase, N., Osaka, A., Sairyo, K., & Katoh, S. (2018).
Falls among Hospitalized Patients in an Acute Care Hospital:

4. Analyses of Incident Reports. The Journal of Medical
Investigation, 65(1.2), 81-84.
Tricco, A. C., Thomas, S. M., Veroniki, A. A., Hamid, J. S.,
Cogo, E., Strifler, L., ... & Riva, J. J. (2017). Comparisons of
interventions for preventing falls in older adults: a systematic
review and meta-analysis. Jama, 318(17), 1687-1699.
Zakrajsek, A., Schuster, E., Wells, C., Williams, J., &
Silverchanz, P. (2018). CAREGIVERS OF OLDER ADULTS
DURING CARE TRANSITIONS: INSIGHTS INTO POSITIVE
ASPECTS OF CAREGIVING. Innovation in Aging, 2(suppl_1),
896-896.
1 hour ago
Idalmis Espinosa
Week 10-Main Discussion
COLLAPSE
Top of Form
NURS 6630: Psychopharmacologic Approaches to Treatment of
Psychopathology
Initial post
Nurses are always described as change agents because of their
ability to influence change in the healthcare system (Rafferty,
2018). They can do this in the organizational level, in the local
and community level, at the state level and at the national level.
Being a change agent means being able to find gaps in practice
and areas that raise concern about the health and interest of
patients, of health organizations and colleagues. For the purpose
of this discussion, the focus shall be on the interest of
psychiatric and mental health patients. This is a group of
patients or a population of patients that is considered as
vulnerable. This is because of the fact that they may not in all
circumstances be able to make their own decisions regarding
their treatment and any other forms of clinical interventions.
Mental health patients suffer from stigmatization from everyone

5. around them including health workers and their families. This
should not be the case since mental illness is just like any other
illness that can be effectively managed and treated using the
right interventions. Stigmatization that this patient population
faces is mainly due to lack of knowledge by the public about
mental illnesses. Stigmatization has very negative implications
for mental health patients. They do not only have to cope with
the devastating aspects of their illness but they also have to go
through so much prejudice as well as social exclusion (Rossler,
2016). The society at large needs to understand mental illnesses
in order to change their attitudes towards those that have mental
illnesses.
Implementing a social change in the community can be
done through education about mental illness. There is need to
create awareness about this patient population and make sure
that the community understand that being mentally ill is only a
form of morbidity that can be managed through pharmacological
interventions and support from professionals and family as well
as friends. The society needs to know that most mental health
issues are exacerbated by stress and pressure from the
community and the last thing this patient population needs is
social exclusion and stigmatization. First, the community should
know that it is okay to openly speak about mental health. Some
communities consider mental illness a taboo and they use
different words to describe mentally ill patients such as psycho
or crazy and at times they consider them as persons that are
dangerous (Abolfotouh et al., 2019). These words have negative
connotations and they are triggers for social exclusion. The
community should know that even mentally ill patients are
capable of making friends and have fulfilling friendship and
relationships. This means that they need love, acceptance,
support and inclusion in the society just like any other person.
The best way to end stigma as noted is through the
creation of awareness. Awareness builds knowledge and ends all
forms of stigma including institutional stigma. In some cases,
there is actually needs to advocate for equal rights for everyone

6. including persons that are mentally ill. For instance, stigma
does not only occur in the form of isolation. Mentally ill
persons are also stigmatized through discrimination in areas
such as employment, housing and even access to health services
(DeFreitas, Crone, DeLeon & Ajayi, 2018). There is need to
stand against such institutions and expose them for this form of
discrimination. Also, when caring for mentally ill patients, they
should be educated about their rights. They need to know that
being mentally ill does not make them any less worth of
employment or better housing opportunities. Being able to stand
for themselves will empower the population to show the rest of
the public that they are just like them and they should be treated
differently.
References
Abolfotouh, M. A., Almutairi, A. F., Almutairi, Z., Salam, M.,
Alhashem, A., Adlan, A. A., & Modayfer, O. (2019). Attitudes
toward mental illness, mentally ill persons, and help-seeking
among the Saudi public and sociodemographic
correlates. Psychology research and behavior management, 12,
45
DeFreitas, S. C., Crone, T., DeLeon, M., & Ajayi, A. (2018).
Perceived and personal mental health stigma in Latino and
African American college students. Frontiers in public health, 6,
49
Rafferty, A. M. (2018). Nurses as change agents for a better
future in health care: the politics of drift and dilution. Health
Economics, Policy and Law, 13(3-4), 475-491
Rossler, W. (2016). The stigma of mental disorders: a
millennia-long history of social exclusion and
prejudices. EMBO Rep, 17(9), 1250-3

7. Bottom of Form
Literature Evaluation Table
Student Name:
Change Topic (2-3 sentences):
Criteria
Article 1
Article 2
Article 3
Article 4
Author, Journal (Peer-Reviewed), and
Permalink or Working Link to Access Article
Article Title and Year Published
Research Questions (Qualitative)/Hypothesis (Quantitative), and
Purposes/Aim of Study

8. Design (Type of Quantitative, or Type of Qualitative)
Setting/Sample
Methods: Intervention/Instruments
Analysis
Key Findings
Recommendations

9. Explanation of How the Article Supports EBP/Capstone Project
Criteria
Article 5
Article 6
Article 7
Article 8
Author, Journal (Peer-Reviewed), and
Permalink or Working Link to Access Article
Article Title and Year Published
Research Questions (Qualitative)/Hypothesis (Quantitative), and
Purposes/Aim of Study
Design (Type of Quantitative, or Type of Qualitative)

10. Setting/Sample
Methods: Intervention/Instruments
Analysis
Key Findings
Recommendations
Explanation of How the Article Supports EBP/Capstone

11. © 2015. Grand Canyon University. All Rights Reserved.
© 2017. Grand Canyon University. All Rights Reserved.
Literature Evaluation Table
Student Name:
Change Topic (2-3 sentences):
Criteria
Article 1
Article 2
Article 3
Article 4
Author, Journal (Peer-Reviewed), and
Permalink or Working Link to Access Article
Article Title and Year Published

12. Research Questions (Qualitative)/Hypothesis (Quantitative), and
Purposes/Aim of Study
Design (Type of Quantitative, or Type of Qualitative)
Setting/Sample
Methods: Intervention/Instruments
Analysis
Key Findings

13. Recommendations
Explanation of How the Article Supports EBP/Capstone Project
Criteria
Article 5
Article 6
Article 7
Article 8
Author, Journal (Peer-Reviewed), and
Permalink or Working Link to Access Article
Article Title and Year Published
Research Questions (Qualitative)/Hypothesis (Quantitative), and

14. Purposes/Aim of Study
Design (Type of Quantitative, or Type of Qualitative)
Setting/Sample
Methods: Intervention/Instruments
Analysis
Key Findings

15. Recommendations
Explanation of How the Article Supports EBP/Capstone
© 2015. Grand Canyon University. All Rights Reserved.
© 2017. Grand Canyon University. All Rights Reserved.