Page 25 - 2017 Nursing Annual Report | Summa Health

“According to the CDC, the average medical
cost of a fall is now $30,000. While that may
seem high, just consider the costs associated
with a person who falls, fractures a hip and
ends up in a nursing home.”

1 out of 3 people
over the age of 65

fall every year

The second equally important goal of the NEPQR grant After the simulation, students were given the opportunity
was to provide education regarding interprofessional to put everything they learned into practice. Students
practice. In response, Summa, in collaboration with performed a fall risk assessment on a volunteer (who
The University of Akron, Cleveland State University, was at risk of falling or had fallen), and developed a plan
NEOMED and Direction Home Area Agency on Aging of care under the supervision of clinical faculty and Falls
10B, developed a program to educate healthcare Clinic team members. The program successfully took
providers of the future on how to practice effectively education from purely classroom to actual hands-on.
in an interprofessional team. “Summa has been very
progressive in implementing interprofessional team care,” According to post-education surveys, 94 percent of
explains Hazelett, “but many practice environments are students rated the education as very good or excellent,
just beginning to recognize the importance of IP practice and 100 percent of faculty agreed or strongly agreed
in optimizing outcomes related to population health that the education was a valuable learning experience
management.” for students.

More than 1,000 students were recruited to participate “Geriatric patients with comorbid chronic conditions and
in the educational program. The students represented functional decline pose unique challenges to healthcare
nursing, medicine, pharmacy, physical therapy, EMS, social systems focused on optimizing population health,” says
work, occupational therapy, exercise science, nutrition, Hazelett. “For example, geriatric patients may initially
speech therapy, psychology as well as other disciplines. present with a fall. Their comorbid depression may seem
like a peripheral issue, however, it is possible that the
The education began with an online didactic depression is having a downhill effect on other important
component where students learned about falls and health issues such as nutrition, mobility or pain. This
other confounding geriatric syndromes, as well as team cascade can then lead to functional impairment and
functioning. The subsequent four-hour simulation event institutionalization which is why, in geriatrics especially, it’s
consisted of students learning about fall assessments important to put the whole picture together. Sometimes,
– from how to conduct strength and cognitive tests to In order to solve one problem, you have to solve four.”
depression screens. They were then given discipline-
specific information about a simulated case and assigned
interprofessional teams where they shared information
and developed a plan of care. “We gave each profession
a realistic assessment finding that would completely
change the course of the conversation,” says Hazelett.
“Students learned that, without the input contributed
by their specific profession, the care plan developed by
the team may have gone in a totally different, and less
effective, direction.”

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