My first fall

Karou · Jan 30, 2016

So confused, how is this possible?

Yeah, I'm interested to know more details. I've never seen a patient manage to do this with someone in the room (over the side rails). This patient needs two staff when positioning, if he can flip over the rails that fast (has to be strong to get over the rails). I want to know if he was confused, combative, why only one staff member was assisting, ect... Falling over the bed rails with staff in the room would be a big investigation in my facility. We take falls extremely seriously. Also interested what the fall root cause analysis result was. It's so important to debrief after any fall and see what the potential causes/contributing factors were, then how to improve practice and prevent in the future.

NaishaStudentNurse · Jan 30, 2016

Nursing Student here. I have been a CNA for a while and the major thing about falls are:

- Protect the PT

- Cover yourself

- Prevent them

Sometimes people just fall and you can't stop it. If that happens make sure you do everything you can to protect them and follow fall risk guidelines. By doing that you can cover yourself. If you did everything you could and you can prove it then you have nothing to worry about.

Then again I am saying this from a CNA perspective.

%D#2 · Jan 30, 2016

Nursing Student here. I have been a CNA for a while and the major thing about falls are:
- Protect the PT
- Cover yourself
- Prevent them
Sometimes people just fall and you can't stop it. If that happens make sure you do everything you can to protect them and follow fall risk guidelines. By doing that you can cover yourself. If you did everything you could and you can prove it then you have nothing to worry about.
Then again I am saying this from a CNA perspective.

That's a very good perspective [emoji4]

annabanana2 · Jan 30, 2016

I am freeking out, I am cring day and night and I m scared that I will be fired or loose my licens
please help me with any suggestions

Oh good lord, you are not going to lose your license because of a fall (or a med error, or forgetting to fill out a form, or whatever other stupid human mistakes people make). I don't know if it's nursing instructors, or fellow nurses pushing this dumb line that your license will be taken away for sneezing wrong, but it's ridiculous. Just for funsies one day, go on your BON's website and look up the nurses that have lost their licenses, and find me ONE in the past hundred years that lost their license because their patient fell. Go ahead, I'll wait.

The BON has bigger fish to fry than an innocent mistake. My goodness. Folks need to stop perpetuating this weird myth.

Jensmom7, BSN, RN · Jan 30, 2016

If every nurse who ever had a patient fall, or made a med error or had an IV infiltrate lost their license because of it, there would be NO practicing nurses in this country.

Take a look at the license lookup section of your state BON website. Check out the nurses who have been disciplined and see what actions REALLY get people in trouble.

Instructors and facilities have been perpetuating this crap for decades, and I wish they would knock it off.

It's one thing to have a healthy respect for the responsibility you bear to your patients. It's another thing entirely to live your life terrified of doing something wrong. You become paralyzed with indecision and can't function at all.

Jensmom7, BSN, RN · Jan 30, 2016

Ouch! He fell over the side rails? Was he injured? I imagine the bed was up high to aid you in repositioning him, so to fall over the side rails and having the bed high, that could be quite a fall. He must have been strong to manage to flip himself like that. Was he confused?

Depends if this happened in a hospital or a LTC facility.

Regular side rails aren't allowed in LTC. They're considered a restraint. Even half rails can't be used.

A patient can have "rails" so they can hold onto them and assist with turning. I put rails in parentheses because they are about 18 inches long, and project at most 2 inches above the mattress.

They are no help at all if a patient is turning too far or too quickly, or starts to slide.

MLE164 · Jan 31, 2016

About 3 years into my nursing career I had gotten by without a patient fall (although I managed to fall and bust my elbow tripping over a patients IV line) that story for another day. When the dreaded day came and I had my first fall, I was devastated. I kept blaming myself and couldn't sleep. I realized that a mistake was made, but I fessed up immediately and didn't try to cover anything up. It was just prior to change of shift and I had left my tech in the room to finish some AM care. She forgot to replace the bed alarm on the patient. He managed to get past the side rails and slid his way onto the floor. Luckily he was unharmed, but a huge mess was made as tube feeding disconnected and an accident leaked into the floor through the loose depend. I had to forgive myself and learn from the mistake. It is always my responsibility to remember to follow up and make sure that my techs place bed alarms on and put bed rails up. Call bells need to be in reach and I can never become lazy on these points. Don't beat yourself up. I was not written up, I wasn't even reprimanded for the incident. I simply filled out the fall incident report and emailed my manager about what happened and included a side note about how I would handle a similar situation in the future. She appreciated that I was learning from the experience and we moved on. Unfortunately, we are humans and make mistakes, just be sure to learn from those mistakes and you will become a better nurse because of that! Good luck!

Alimamethaa · Jan 31, 2016

Your writing opened my eyes on so many things

thank you

I learned a lot from what happened Iam just hoping things will end in a good way eventually

lavenderskies, BSN · Jan 31, 2016

(although I managed to fall and bust my elbow tripping over a patients IV line) that story for another day.

I thought I was the only one who could manage doing this. :shy:

I walk into street signs and support columns in malls etc as well. Sigh. So embarassing. :bag:

Pranqster · Jan 31, 2016

With all due respect, crying all day and freaking out like that is a terrible trait. Put your big girl pants on and handle yourself like an adult, or at least like a professional. Im sorry to rant like this, but for goodness sake, you sound like a baby. Can you imagine seeing a Doctor breaking down inconsolably over a minor accident like that.

Azariia · Jan 31, 2016

Great advice from everyone. Except for Pranqster.

The days of eating our young has got to stop. Alimamethaa did say she was a new RN and in orientation. Nursing school does not teach students critical thinking skills. Those "in the moment" disastrous situations are what we can choose to learn from to gain confidence and expertise. And I will also add that she took personal accountability for what she did or didn't do and is reaching out for our help. If she didn't care she would have never posted the topic. She is taking the first steps of being a really good nurse.

Congratulations Alimamethaa on passing your boards and starting your new adventure!

Azariia · Jan 31, 2016

[COLOR=#000000]How true! It is all about learning from our mistakes and going forward. The only time I have ever given anyone a written counseling is when they blatantly chose not follow protocol and actual harm came to the resident. [/COLOR]