Answer

Falls among the Elderly

The elderly, due to the nature of their advanced age, are prone to suffering from accidents and falls. Previous studies have revealed that the elderly suffer from a variety of susceptible conditions that affect their stability. With the increasing rate of falls among the elderly, a proposal change was initiated that would reduce not only the incidences of falls among the elderly, but also improve their quality of life. This report, therefore, describes the progress of the change proposal that include obstacles, resources used, and the expected outcome.

Implementation Obstacles

The implementation of the project faced a number of obstacles at the beginning such as establishing the scope of the study, involving the community, getting the management of the community clinic on board and the financial budget of the project. These obstacles, however, were managed accordingly so as to ensure that the project was implemented and met the set objectives. The scope of the project was reduced to cater for the community clinic which mainly offers outpatient services. In this regard, the scope of the project was thus manageable and the capacity to implement the project was realistic. Secondly, the involvement of the community was handled through basic education of the public on the importance of ensuring that the well-being of the elderly was observed and duly maintained. Thirdly, engaging the clinic’s management and getting it to understand the necessity of the project and the role played by the clinic in reducing the rate of falls among the elderly was the factor that made it possible to have the clinic’s management participate and to the financial assistance. In resolving these obstacles, the project’s stability and success was assured following the participation of the major stakeholders. Moreover, the involvement of the community and the clinic’s management made it possible for both sides to understand the positive impact of the project in improving the health and well-being of the elderly within the community.

Project Implementation Stages

The implementation of the project was set to be executed in five distinct stages. The first stage involved conducting research on the rate of falls among the elderly within the community and establishing how severe the situation is in the community (Babbie, 2018). This was an important stage as it involved taking note of the areas that needed attention and how the elderly in the community were duly affected by the environment in relation to the cases of falls. The second stage of the implementation process involved establishment of the project design. This is such that, the project design had to be made in a manner that it would capture the necessity of ensuring that the well-being and general health of the elderly in the community was taken care of and the rate of falls reduced subsequently. The third stage of the implementation process involved development of the project. This ideally took into consideration the assessment of the environment that would undergo the necessary changes as well as establishing a given budget for the project (Forsberg & Malmborg, 2003). Primarily, the development of the project ensured that several factors were put to use. It was at this stage that the equipment that would be needed in the renovation of the infrastructure and the education and training of the nurses and caregivers were discussed and duly established. Throughout these first three stages, the management of the clinic, the community and the various caregivers within the clinic and those who worked privately granted their support in a bid to ensure that the elderly population was attended to accordingly. The current stage of the project is the implementation stage. This is where the infrastructure has undergone some changes. The floors have been made more stable to reduce slipperiness. The movement sensors have been put in place to monitor movement within the clinic. The caregivers and nurses have undergone thorough training aimed at ensuring that the care advanced to the elderly meets the required standards (Cantiello et al., 2016). Within the community, support beams have been installed in strategic areas and even within the homes of the elderly to ensure that the rates of falls are minimized.

Anticipated Outcome

The anticipated project outcomes include reduced rate of falls among the elderly recorded from both the clinic and even in the homes. Primarily, the measures put in place are all directed towards achieving its initial objectives. In addition, it is anticipated that the nursing interventions would be efficient in enabling the community to work better and co-efficiently with the nurses in ensuring that the health and well-being of the elderly is upheld. The timeline that had been initially set for the implementation period was four weeks. However, this may need an additional week so as to give more time to ensure that the implementation of the change project is fully effected. This adjustment would suffice to maximize on the stability and long term effect of the project (Von, 2016). Further adjustments are not necessary and the current status of the project remains to be sufficient and effective enough to achieve the intended outcome of the project in its entirety.

The change project was directed at looking into means of reducing the rate of falls among the elderly. Based on the records of the community clinic, it was evident that the elderly patients visiting the clinic were mainly seeking medical attention from injuries and cases of falls. The project, therefore, sought to have changes implemented throughout the community and within the community clinic. In addition to having the changes implemented, nursing interventions were also part of the project change. The nursing interventions part of the project was aimed at enabling the community to interact with the medical personnel and the caregivers hence achieving a proper approach to ensuring that the well-being of the elderly is attended to comprehensively. The primary areas of the project focused on understanding the nature and significance of reducing the rate of falls among the elderly, establishing an approach that would be sufficient in maximizing the reduction of the rate of falls and ensuring that the implementation of the project was practical in terms of the physical infrastructure and the nursing interventions. The achievement of these areas would thus suffice to ensure that the core objective of the project is attained.

The main findings to this project included the fact that, proper care extended to the elderly was sufficient to ensure that the rate of falls reduced. This is inclusive of looking into the nursing interventions and the environment assessment. This project is further significant to the nursing profession on grounds that it adds information to the research on falls among the elderly and the fact that it provides a practical approach to the study sufficient for future research, analysis and implementation on a larger scope.