Staff-led innovations reduce falls in high-acuity patients.

Nursing Management • December 2015 25 this unit won’t automatically work for other units in the hospital because the root cause(s) of falls may vary depending on the patient population. However, the Liberating Structures frameworks and staff engagement are two techniques that can be used throughout the organization. With increased staff awareness of patient falls and staff-driven ideas being considered and implemented, morale improved on the unit. Through the use of Liberating Structures, staff members became engaged in the process to decrease falls and were recognized for their knowledge and expertise, thus creating a culture of change. NM REFERENCES 1. Fuller GF. Falls in the elderly. Am Fam Physician. 2000;61(7):2159-2168, 2173-2174. 2. American Nurses Association. The impact of nursing care on quality. www.nursingworld.org/ MainMenuCategories/ThePracticeofProfessionalNursing/PatientSafetyQuality/ResearchMeasurement/Nursing-and-Quality.pdf. 3. Ganz DA, Huang C, Saliba D, et al. Preventing Falls in Hospitals: A Toolkit for Improving Quality of Care. Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; 2013. 4. Hart J, Chen J, Rashidee A, Kumar S. Epidemiology and impact of patient falls in healthcare facilities. www.psqh.com/marchapril-2009/197-datatrends-epidemiology-and-impact-of-patientfalls-in-healthcare-facilities.html. 5. Cerit B, Küçükyazici S̨ener D. TRIZ: theory of inventive problem solving and comparison of TRIZ with the other problem solving techniques. Balkan Journal of Electrical and Computer Engineering. 2014;2(2):66-74. 6. Tzeng HM, Yin CY. Toileting-related inpatient falls in adult acute care settings. Medsurg Nurs. 2012;21(6):372-377. 7. Liberating Structures. Getting started. www. liberatingstructures.com/getting-started/.