Question

You find a patient on the floor beside his bed. After doing an assessment and ensuring that the patient is safe and not injured, the next thing you do is

a. complete an incident report.
b. determine that since no injury occurred no further documentation is necessary.
c. ask your nursing assistant to complete an incident report.
d. call the risk manager.

Answer 1

When a patient is found on the floor beside his bed, an incident report should be completed to document the event and assist in future prevention measures.

Step-by-step explanation:

When you find a patient on the floor beside his bed, and after ensuring the patient is safe and not injured, the correct action to take is to complete an incident report. This is important for documentation and for the assessment of the events that led to the patient's fall. It's essential to accurately document the incident, even if there was no injury, to help in preventing future incidents and to assist in quality improvement initiatives within the healthcare facility. The report should include items such as the name of the procedure that was being performed if any, confirmation of sponge and instrument counts, the correct labeling of any specimen(s), issues with equipment, and recovery and care plans discussed by the surgery, nursing, and anesthesia teams.