Falls ; Nurses ; Patient safety ; Qualitative research
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to explore nurses’ experience of falls, and their perception of the status quo of inpatient fall interventions.
Methods
The participants were 28 ward nurses in a university hospital, Seoul, Korea. Five focus group interviews and three individual interviews were conducted. The interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis.
Results
The findings from this study suggest that nurses face limitations in providing conventional fall interventions due to patient disease related characteristics, situations in hospital, and medical devices used in the hospital settings. Although nurses adopted their own strategies to prevent falls effectively, they expressed the need for innovative approaches to overcome these limitations.
Conclusion
Systematic, technology-based approaches are needed to create a safer physical environment and to improve current nursing interventions to prevent falls.