LOS ANGELES, July 15, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — A key
component of health care reform involves the improvement of
quality, access and value when delivering health services,
particularly for patients admitted to a hospital. To help meet
these needs, the University of California established the Center
for Health Quality and Innovation, which provides financial support
for health quality initiatives across the UC health system.
The center has now awarded nine grants totaling $3.4 million to
six UC institutions for projects aimed at better understanding and
alleviating common obstacles to health quality, including frequent
falls, excess radiation from scans, hospital-acquired conditions
and issues of care coordination among multiple health
professionals. Of the nine studies, six include UCLA health care
experts as participants.
Rising above hospital falls
Between 2 percent and 15 percent of hospital patients in the
U.S. experience falls. Nearly a third of these result in injuries,
and sometimes even death. At Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center,
however, falls declined by 30 percent when the hospital instituted
a program called “5Ps.” In many hospitals across the country,
nurses on rounds use an hourly process called “4Ps” to assess
patients’ pain, personal needs, positioning in a bed or chair, and
the placement of items they might need. At UCLA, nurse Catherine
Walsh, the accreditation manager for in-patient nursing and
interventional areas for the UCLA Department of Nursing and a
member of the department’s falls prevention committee, created the
“5Ps” program by adding “preventing falls” to the hourly rounding
process. During each nursing visit, factors that could result in
falls are identified and mitigated, reducing risk on an ongoing
basis during hospitalization. Walsh and Dr. Teryl Nuckols, a UCLA
associate professor of general internal medicine and health
services research, who are co-leaders of the project, and their
team recei
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