The Learning Effectiveness of Nurses Participating in a Simulated Management of Fall Risk Factor Assessment

Background: Fall injuries are common causes of dangerous inpatient conditions and should be prevented in neurosurgery inpatient wards. An adequate survey and evaluation of risk factors for falls is therefore crucial for the development of prevention and intervention strategies in inpatient care. Purpose: To investigate the learning effectiveness of a simulated management system for improving nurses' fall risk assessments and management. Method: A total of 12 nurses at a hospital in one health system in northern Taiwan who had ever used a “fall risk factor assessment” tool for patients undergoing neurosurgery were enrolled in this quasi-experimental study. A single group with a pre-test and post-test (6 weeks after intervention) approach was constructed. For our simulated model of a fall risk factor assessment, we used a strategy of teaching/practice on the simulated model. The outcomes were evaluated with a “questionnaire for fall risk factor assessment”. Results: The within-subject effects indicated notable improvement in knowledge of fall risk factors after our strategy of teaching/practice with simulated model training was implemented. The mean scores on knowledge of fall risk factors were 3.25 and 9.13 on the pre-test and post-test, respectively. We found a remarkable improvement in the post-test scores compared with the pre-test results among participants who implemented our training strategies. Conclusion: The simulated method for fall risk factor assessment with a teaching/practice training process demonstrated a significant and favorable benefit on learning outcomes, especially as a new staff training program. We recommended incorporating a simulated system with teaching/practice into clinical nursing education and training strategies to improve training courses.