DNP graduates must apply research findings and integrate nursing science into evidence-based practice. To develop your skills in this high level of nursing practice, you will analyze the strengths and weaknesses of a research study over the next several weeks using the concepts presented throughout the course. Your final analysis will be a 5- to 7-page paper that includes the following: Article Critique - Fall Prevention in Hospitals Article Critique – Fall Prevention in Hospitals Explain two to three strengths of the study and support for your selection (i.e., why this is a strength). Be specific. An explanation of 2–3 weaknesses of the study and support for your selection (i.e., why is this a weakness). Be specific. Note: The strengths and weaknesses that you identified should be in relation to design, sampling, data collection, statistical analysis, results, and discussion of the study that you selected. An explanation of proposed changes you would recommend to improve the quality

Article Critique – Fall Prevention in Hospitals

Modern healthcare systems increasingly emphasize quality healthcare, with value-based innovative approaches maintaining relevancy in quality improvement measures across care organizations. Fall prevention in hospitals is one of the quality improvement measures that is gaining prominence in institutionalized care. Many hospitals are implementing fall prevention measures as a health preservation measure for patients at high risk for falls. Many studies have detailed fall prevention interventions by identifying at-risk populations and risk factors for falls postulated as best practices in hospital fall prevention (Heng et al., 2020). Nevertheless, organizational and environmental factors have been implicated in severe falls. This paper analyzes a quantitative study on factors associated with the severity of falls in hospitalized patients.

Overview of the Quantitative Study Selected

Ghosh et al.’s (2022) quantitative study is selected in this article critique. This quantitative study analyzes the factors associated with the severity of falls among adults in institutionalized care settings. According to this article, the severity of the fall scale is divided into three tiers that correspond to the low, medium, and high severity of falls. A retrospective cohort analysis of inpatient records on falls utilizing univariable and multivariable regression models revealed several causal factors for falls, each correlating to varying severity. Age-related, medication-related, mobility-related, and history-related fall-related factors were identified (Ghosh et al., 2022). While there was a positive correlation between these factors and hospital falls, their severity scales varied.

Patients aged above 50 and female gender were associated with high-risk falls. Patients in these categories experienced considerable harm whenever they fell. Fall incidents in this category were mostly reported during toileting and bathing activities. Comorbidity with depression, substance abuse disorders, and the use of medications were also linked to high-severity falls. The authors concluded that identifying these factors remains a best practice in fall prevention. Fall prevention strategies in institutionalized care settings should thus focus on screening for these factors.

An Explanation of Strengths of the Study

Fall prevention is integral to all quality improvement initiatives in institutional care settings. Findings from this study affirm the need for screening for fall risk factors as a preventive measure for hospital falls. This study concludes an analysis of numerical data on risk factors for falls and the severity of falls experienced by adults in an inpatient setting. This is a strength because it enabled the authors to provide more accurate and reliable correlations between the identified risk factors and the severity of falls. Besides, Noyes et al. (2019) report that quantitative approaches that give due consideration to measurable numerical data provide more factual information than the opinions and characteristics that other research methodologies present. Therefore, Ghosh et al.’s (2022) findings can be used to inform guidelines on fall prevention and can also be leveraged to investigate other quality improvement measures on other quality improvement indicators in hospitals.

The use of numerical data in quantitative methods also provides a straightforward and clear framework for analyzing the study results. As evident in the article, large multivariate study results can be condensed into smaller, easily analyzable clusters. This is a strength because it provides the basis for exploring other populations and healthcare aspects presented in the study and provides descriptive data. The article’s authors make a descriptive conclusion on the risk factors for hospital falls by detailing the correlation between each risk factor and fall severity. The descriptive aspects of these risk factors enable the identification of individual patients and environmental factors that predispose an individual to severe risks and inform the priority interventions that can be implemented. These findings can also form the groundwork for other studies. For these reasons, quantitative data maintains utility in guiding healthcare practices.

Weakness of Study

Despite the article’s benefits and strengths, Ghosh et al.’s (2022) study has some weaknesses. The study draws its findings from hospital records from a hospital in the Perth region of Australia. While the findings may be true for this hospital and the vast Perth area, they do not reflect practices in other healthcare settings across the globe. The extrapolation of these data may give insight into standard practice across healthcare systems worldwide, b