2008 Cardinal Health Patient Safety Grant Recipients >
Nationwide Children's Hospital
Pediatric Fall Assessment and Prevention Program
Team members
From left to right sitting:
- Karen Principe, Susan Copeland, Dr. Nancy Ryan-Wenger (Principal Investigator), Babs Spence.
From left to right back row
- Stephanie Nichols, Dr. Judy Kimchi-Woods (Co-Investigator), Heather King
Not pictured:
- Katherine Turner; Sydney Scott; Margaret Carey; Char Catt; Barb Abdalla; Laura Lee; John Koepke; Andrea Manning; Lindy Knapp; Dorcas Lewe; Kristi Hazen; Melody Shingler; Mary Kay Hasenkamp
It is not acceptable for hospitalized children to fall. Falls are preventable accidents, yet hospitalized children do fall at an alarming rate. One of the major challenges to the development of a fall prevention program at our hospital in 2005 was the absence of evidence-based fall risk assessment tools and fall prevention practice guidelines for children. Dr. Judith Kimchi-Woods, PhD, RN, led an interdisciplinary team including nursing, pharmacy, information services, education, and quality improvement services through the process of developing a Pediatric Fall Risk Assessment and the corresponding Fall Prevention Interventions Protocol. Dr. Nancy Ryan-Wenger, PhD, RN, developed a research study to evaluate the reliability and validity of the Risk Assessment tool, and the effectiveness of the Fall Prevention protocol. This study, funded by a Cardinal Health Patient Safety Grant, will include statistical testing of predictive models of fall risk indicators to achieve the most accurate pediatric fall risk assessment tool. The goal of this research is to develop evidence-based practice guidelines to minimize the incidence of falls in hospitalized children.
Program inquiries
Nancy A. Ryan-Wenger, PhD, RN, CPNP, FAAN
Director of Nursing Research
Nationwide Children's Hospital
Phone: 614.722.0543
Email:
Nancy.RyanWenger@NationwideChildrens.org
Research Institute at Nationwide Childrens Hospital
700 Children's Drive
Columbus, OH 43205
U.S.A. - English
