Preventing Newborn Falls

Abstract

Poster Presentation Purpose for the Program In fiscal year 2012, six newborn falls were reported at Anne Arundel Medical Center (AAMC). As a result of this disturbing trend, the Mother/Baby Quality Council developed a Newborn Falls Prevention Task Force. The goals of the task force were to identify factors associated with newborn falls and make recommendations to reduce newborn falls. Proposed Change After reviewing the literature, examining and analyzing the information related to the falls in our hospital, and attending the 2013 Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN) convention, we developed a plan which included the following: (a) create the expectation that nurses and patient care technicians discuss newborn falls prevention with parents at least once every 12‐hour shift; (b) develop patient handouts related to infant safety, including falls prevention; (c) create signage for patient rooms to remind parents not to fall asleep with newborns in their beds; (d) create signage for postpartum units indicating the number of days since the last newborn fall; (e) discuss newborn falls at staff meetings and quality council meetings. We decided not to implement hourly rounding because one of our newborns was dropped by the mother within 20 minutes of the nurse leaving the room. Implementation, Outcomes, and Evaluation Staff members were kept informed of the new program and our progress through e‐mails and staff meetings. In fiscal year 2013, the number of falls reported was two, which was before our program was fully implemented in June 2013. In fiscal year 2014, we had one newborn fall. So far in fiscal year 2015, we have not had any newborn falls. Implications for Nursing Practice On a mother/infant unit where newborns stay with their mothers for approximately 23 hours per day, a newborn falls prevention program that focuses on parent, family, and staff education can be effective in reducing newborn falls.