NRSG 314 Unit 1 – Discussion Board 2

NRSG 314 Unit 1 – Discussion Board 2

At our hospital we have implemented a nurse driven foley protocol in order to minimize catheter acquired urinary tract infections (CAUTI).  This protocol allows nurses to asses the need for foley and thus remove foleys promptly post surgery or otherwise.  It is a joint effort with the doctors and nurses to bring down the rate of CAUTI in the hospital as it also prolongs the stay of the patient (Hollenbeak & Schilling 2018).  When we have done risk assessments in nursing quality council we have always seen that infections could have been prevented had the catheter been removed days earlier.

Another quality improvement project that is always ongoing is Falls.  We have started to use a patient fall agreement in which the patient will sign a paper that signifies the patients partnership in following the fall precautions.  For instance many patients fail to use the call bell when getting up out of bed thus end of falling as they did not call for help despite being told numerous times.  The project is great because it gives the patient awareness that they also need to partner in the precautions, however the con is when the time comes it seems as if the agreement has not really been key in preventing falls.  The key is the other precautions like bed alarm and fall mats need to be in place.

Second quality improvement project is that of workplace injuries.  We have done training in safe patient handling and have many lift devices in order to save nursing staff from becoming injured.  When we have the time and resources the lifts have been great, but one thing nursing tends to do when there are no resources and no time to use and find the lift is they will do it themselves thus get injured.

Hollenbeak, C. S., & Schilling, A. L. (2018). The attributable cost of catheter-associated

urinary tract infections in the United States: A systematic review. American journal of infection control, 46(7), 751-757. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajic.2018.01.015