American Nurse Today publishes Special Report: Best Practices for falls reduction: A practical guide

March 18, 2011 - PRLog -- DOYLESTOWN, PA

Nurses help ensure patient safety, including prevention of falls and fall related injuries.  Patient falls are one of the top five sentinel events for hospitals, long term care and home care agencies because of the loss of function and injury that results.  American Nurse Today has published a “Special Report: Best Practices for Falls Reduction: A Practical Guide” as a supplement to its March issue.  The supplement was developed as a useful, practical resource for nurses to better intervene to reduce falls.

Development of the continuing education (CE) supplement was supported by an unrestricted educational grant from Hill Rom (http://www.hill-rom.com). The supplement is accredited for 1.9 contact hours of CE credit.

“Up to half of hospitalized patients are at risk for falls, and almost half who fall experience an injury,” says Pamela Cipriano, PhD, RN, FAAN, NEA-BC, Editor-in-Chief of American Nurse Today. “These numbers, and the potential to influence patient outcomes, make falls prevention an important priority for hospitals.”

The supplement includes how to assess patients at risk for falling, create and maintain a falls reduction program, and select technology options to ensure patient safety. Case studies round out the supplement, which takes a practical approach to interventions.

Among the many national leaders on falls prevention and patient safety who contributed to the supplement are Joan Forte, BSN, MBA, NE-BC, and Carol Kulik, MSN, RN, ACNP, CRNP-BC, from Stanford Hospital and Clinics in Palo Alto, California, and Patricia Quigley, PhD, MPH, ARNP, CRRN, FAAN, FAANP, and Lisa Goff, MSPT, from the James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital in Tampa, Florida, where Quigley is associate director for the Veterans Integrated Service Network 8 Patient Safety Center of Inquiry.

The supplement can be accessed at www.americannursetoday.com.

American Nurse Today reaches 175,000 nurses including 160,000 members of ANA.  In addition to keeping nurses abreast of ANA’s advocacy for the profession, American Nurse Today provides valuable, peer-reviewed, evidence based clinical, practical and career information that nurses can assimilate into their busy practices immediately.  

HealthCom Media, located in Doylestown, PA specializes in publishing clinical, practical journals, education resources and continuing education programs for healthcare professionals.

The American Nurses Association is the only full-service professional organization representing the nation's 2.7 million registered nurses through its constituent member associations. The ANA advances the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the economic and general welfare of nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and by lobbying Congress and the regulatory agencies on healthcare issues affecting nurses and the public.

The American Nurses Association Center for Continuing Education and Professional Development is accredited as a provider of continuing nursing education by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.
ANA is approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing,
Provider Number 6178.

For more information, please contact Tyra London, Associate Publisher, HealthCom Media at (215) 489-7000, ext.117, e-mail: tlondon@healthcommedia.com or Greg Osborne, Group Publisher at ext. 101, e-mail: gosborne@healthcommedia.com.

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American Nurse Today reaches 175,000 nurses including 160,000 members of ANA. ANT provides valuable, peer-reviewed, evidence based clinical, practical & career information that nurses can assimilate into their busy practices immediately.