Improving nursing staff perspective of purposeful rounding to reduce fall rates
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Background Falls, especially among older adults, cause significant injury and mortality. Purposeful Rounding (PR) entails routine patient checks every one or two hours to address needs proactively. PR's inconsistencies in execution limit its effectiveness. This Quality Improvement (QI) project aimed to improve the nursing staff’s perspective of PR and to reduce fall rates. Methods This pre-post intervention study involved education on PR and scheduled reminders to complete the task. The Nurses’ Perception of Patient Rounding Scale evaluated the staff's perception of PR. Fall rates were collected in December 2024 and February 2025. PR logs were reviewed biweekly for four weeks post-education. Paired t-tests and descriptive statistics were used for data analysis. Results There was no statistically significant reduction in fall rates [95% CI, 0–0.154], but a clinically noteworthy decrease from 22% to 17%. Overall, the nursing staff’s perspective of PR improved significantly (p = 0.002) with a notable increase in patient benefits (p < 0.001), nurse benefits (p = 0.006), and communication (p = 0.021). Documentation adherence improved from 50% to 73% over four weeks. Conclusions This QI project enhanced the nursing staff’s understanding of PR through education, implementation, and documentation, indicating the need for further research on its long-term effects on fall rates in larger, diverse populations. IRB Approval IRB approval through exempt review Co-Authors Kari Lane PhD, RN; Kimberly Powell PhD, RN, FAMIA; Molly Skidmore, MSW-Gerontology, CSW, CDP; Lada Micheas (Statistician) Learning Objective The purpose of this QI project was to improve the nursing staff's perspective of PR to reduce fall rates. After reading this abstract, the learner will be able to discuss the impact of Purposeful Rounding education on the nursing staff perspective to reduce fall rates.