For Immediate Release
Mercy Reduces Patient Falls and Receives National Accolades
Oklahoma City—Thanks to the innovation of a team of
Mercy pharmacists and nurses, Mercy Health Center has reduced the number
of patients injured by falls by almost half. The team developed a tool
to assess a patient’s risk for falls by looking at medications and
because of its impact, Mercy was one of six health facilities in the
nation this month awarded the American Society of Health-System
Pharmacists (ASHP) Best Practices Award.
“Our program at Mercy has had a significant effect
on patient safety and that’s why we are receiving calls from around the
world about how we reduced patient falls—a national problem among health
care facilities,” said Burl Beasley, MPH, DPh, Mercy pharmacist. “Many
medications, including over-the-counter drugs, and the combination of
them can cause dizziness, especially in patients 65 and older. By
scoring patients at risk, we are preventing falls.”
Mercy nurses and pharmacists work together to
generate a medication-specific fall risk score for each patient
admitted. If a patient scores high, it triggers the pharmacist to review
the patient’s full medication profile along with recommendations to
reduce the risk of a fall, including suggested changes in the drugs
and/or doses prescribed, laboratory surveillance and additional patient
and family education.
“Our staff nurses fill out risk assessments on every
patient and work together with our pharmacy to decrease falls,” said
Linda Fanning, RN, MS, Mercy’s chief nursing officer. “Together, we are
making a difference in patient safety.”
In addition to this year’s award, last year Mercy
was awarded $10,000 by ASHP and given a 10th Annual Institute for Safe
Medication Practice Cheers Award for the innovative fall prevention
program.
Press release dated: December 15, 2008
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