Proposed Topic (Most preferred): :
Clinical Safety and Quality Service II (Projects aiming to enhance clinical safety and outcomes, clinical governance / risk management)
Authors (including presenting author) :
WM NG (1)(2)(4), KW WONG (1)(2)(4), HN TONG (2)(4), WY WONG (2)(4), Viola LI (2)(4), WY NG (2), Cecilia KWOK (2), Antonia CHAN (2), YY WATT (2), Priscillia L LAM (3)(4), Katherine M C PANG (1)(2)(4), Carmen WS CHAN (1)(4), LH CHAN (4), SL LEE (1)
Affiliation :
(1) Quality & Safety Department, QMH (2) HKWC Falls Prevention Strategies Task Force (3) Department of Physiotherapy, QMH (4) HKWC Falls Prevention and Management Committee
Introduction :
Patient falls is one of the top risks in the HKWC Risk Register. Fall risk assessment is a fundamental step for falls prevention.
In July 2022, the HKWC Quality and Safety (Q&S) Department conducted an audit on Fall Risk Assessment and Care Plan Documentation, which revealed a suboptimal understanding of fall risk assessment. The findings were consistent with the results of post-fall reviews and clinical department visits.
Therefore, HKWC Falls Prevention Strategies Task Force tailor-made an animated training video on Morse Fall Scale (MFS).
Objectives :
To serve as standard training material to guide nurses in performing MFS assessment accurately in HKWC.
To enhance consistency of nurse training on fall risk across HKWC hospitals.
Methodology :
The Q&S Department performed a gap analysis on the findings of the audit on fall risk assessment and post-fall reviews. The commonly misinterpreted items in the MFS were identified.
As it is difficult to illustrate the concepts in writing, animated video was selected as a suitable training tool. The content was developed with inputs from members of the HKWC Falls Prevention Strategies Task Force and Department Manager of Physiotherapy Department, QMH.
Result & Outcome :
The video covered 6 items of MFS, 3 moments of re-assessment and documentation of fall prevention measures.
The commonly misinterpreted items including “Bed rest” and “Gait” were highlighted in the video, and complex concepts were simplified for easy understanding.
The 3-minute animated video was disseminated to HKWC nurses via email, hospital WhatsApp and presented in nursing meetings in June 2023.
The video has been uploaded to HKWC Q&S webpage and registered as an eLearning course, which facilitates nurses’ access to the training video anywhere and anytime via myHR App, with attendance recorded.
From January to October 2023, there were 272 episodes of in-patient falls reported in AIRS in HKWC hospitals. The inaccurate MFS assessment was decreased from 36% (43 out of 132 fall cases from January to May) to 25% (35 out of 140 cases from June to October) after launching of training video.
The frontline nurses also provided positive feedback including “Visual storytelling is easy-to-understand”; “Interesting and informative content to engage colleagues” and “Simple, short and hit to the point” etc. As of September 2023, over 400 attendances were recorded in eLearning and Q&S webpage respectively.
The accuracy of fall risk assessment is essential to planning of appropriate fall preventive measures for patients and facilitate the planning of nursing care.
HKWC Q&S Department worked with clinical teams and cluster hospitals to develop a standard animated training video on MFS, which simplified complex concepts to help nurses to understand how to conduct fall risk assessment accurately, with positive outcomes.
