Enhancing Patient Safety Through an Educational Intervention on Purposeful Rounding to Reduce Inpatient Falls in a Neuro - Medical Unit

This doctoral staff education project focused on improving purposeful rounding practices among staff and patient outcomes on a neuro-medical unit. The practice problem stemmed from inconsistent rounding behaviors, gaps in staff knowledge of evidence-based fall-prevention strategies, and a persistent pattern of inpatient falls. Patients with neurological conditions face impaired mobility, cognitive changes, and clinical instability, making structured rounds essential to reduce risk. The practice-focused question asked whether an educational intervention targeting the principles and procedures of purposeful rounding could measurably improve staff knowledge, increase their skill, strengthen their commitment with the pain, potty, position, and possession components of rounding and reduce patient falls. Pretest and posttest intervention measurements used a structured questionnaire, case study items, and Likert scale intentions items, which aligned with project objectives. Participants increased their knowledge from a mean score of 64.8% to 81.8%, with a normalized gain of 48.6%, increased their intent to implement purposeful rounding from 3.54 to 4.26 on a 5-point Likert scale, and improved their skill level score from 64.0% to 82.4% (18.4%) following the educational intervention. The inpatient fall rate decreased by 56.25 % within 30 days. These results demonstrated that targeted, evidence-based education improved staff practices, enhanced patient safety, and may support sustainable fall-reduction efforts. Broader implications may include empowering frontline staff, strengthening health equity efforts by standardizing safety behaviors for all patients, and contributing to positive social change through safer inpatient care.