Evaluating the process and outcome of an intervention is a critical part of understanding its effectiveness and providing adjustments. Three data sources will be used to evaluate the intervention: records of a daily patient survey conducted by the nurses, the unit secretary in charge of the call lights or the nurse on duty, and patient responses. These sources will help us determine the exact number of falls and their reasons if the records or the secretary’s answers are inaccurate. Patients’ responses to questions involving the three Ps – Pain, Potty, and personal items – will be charted by nurses during the hourly rounding. The unit secretary or nurse on duty will report on fall incidents daily. Patients will answer questions about falls during their hospital stay at discharge, and their responses will also be recorded. This approach will control and motivate employees to record all data on time during hourly rounding and not hide incidents since they can be verified by information from other sources. Therefore, this method will also help reinforce the practice among nurses. A representative in patient quality will be responsible for collecting and organizing the data.
A potential problem can be the high workload of the nurse, which impedes their hourly rounding and contributes to the forgetfulness of recording data. In addition, elderly patients or people with communication difficulties may inaccurately answer questions, delaying nurses. A recommendation for solving the first problem is to involve a representative in patient quality or other staff who can ask questions if all nurses are busy with more urgent procedures. In the second case, nurses may rely partly on their observations or use other means of communication, such as gestures or notes.