1. Hourly Rounding – A Falls
Prevention Change Initiative
Deer Lodge Centre
Winnipeg, MB
A 431 Long Term Care Facility providing personal care,
chronic/extended care, rehabilitation & assessment services
for all, including veterans.
Tracy Thiele, Project Coordinator
Carol Anderson, Clinical Educator

2. Issue
Falls is the leading cause of injury-related death and hospitalization for older
adults in Manitoba and accounts for 54% of all regional critical incidents.
Total Falls per Year
Although our falls statistics PCH, Chronic Care, and A&R
have steadily declined, a trial 2500
of hourly rounding was initiated 2000 2193 2145
to continually evolve our Falls
1923
1500 2042
Total Falls
1696
1576
Prevention and Management 1000
Program. The trial did not 500
0
yield the anticipated results 2005 2006 2007
Year
2008 2009 2010
and the program was not Data Source: Occurrence Reporting System
Data Excludes: Near Misses
sustainable.
Aim: To secure a solidly established
base of understanding and a consistent
approach regarding the benefits of
hourly rounding

3. InterventIons
The development of a interdisciplinary working group to re-
exam initiating and sustaining hourly rounding
New trials took place on a rehabilitation and personal care
unit
Identified factors known to facilitate or act as barriers to
sustainability (e.g. attitudes & relevance of the issue)
Changed the method of conducting hourly rounding by
implementing policy and documentation sheet
Created an action plan for sustainability, including; steps to be
taken to achieve aim, timeframe, person responsible, and what was
monitored to identify achievement

4. Lessons Learned
• Start slow and work out the • To get staff buy-in requires
“kinks" before trying to expand them to feel involved in the
process
• Remember it takes time to • Provide positive feedback and
change practice. Do not support in many different ways
expect immediate results
• Conduct ongoing audits • To engage staff early, be
regularly and address issues creative in advertising and roll
out
and concerns as they arise
With the quality time spent on our trials we are successful in preventing falls and
have developed an excitement and anticipated for the centre wide roll out
The falls prevention change initiative focuses on improving quality care in patient
safety, patient and staff satisfaction, and change management