Standing on the Edge: A Nurse’s Struggle with Fall Prevention

Every day, Sarah walked through the doors of the hospital with a knot in her stomach and a heavy weight on her shoulders. For her, being a nurse wasn’t just a job – it was a calling, a responsibility that she carried with her every moment of every shift. But lately, that responsibility had begun to feel like a burden, a burden she feared she may not be strong enough to bear.

It started like any other day – the hustle and bustle of the hospital ward, the steady rhythm of beeping machines, the comforting hum of whispered conversations. But as the day wore on, a sense of unease settled over Sarah like a dark cloud, casting a shadow over the otherwise bustling ward. 

She had just finished her rounds, checking in on her patients and ensuring their needs were met, when the call came in – a patient had fallen in their room, a fall-related accident that left them battered and bruised. Sarah’s heart sank as she rushed to the scene, her mind racing with a million questions and fears.

As she entered the room, she was met with a scene of chaos – nurses scurrying about, doctors barking orders, the patient lying motionless on the floor. In that moment, time seemed to stand still, each second stretching into eternity as Sarah grappled with the enormity of what had just occurred.

The rest of the day passed in a blur of paperwork and meetings, the weight of the incident hanging heavy in the air like a dark cloud. But for Sarah, the real battle had only just begun – the battle against her own fears and insecurities, the battle to prevent another tragedy from occurring under her watch.

You see, fall prevention wasn’t just a part of Sarah’s job – it was a constant source of stress and anxiety that gnawed at her soul with each passing day. The fear of making a mistake, of failing to protect her patients from harm, consumed her like a fire burning out of control. And with each passing shift, that fear grew stronger, threatening to engulf her in its suffocating embrace.

But it wasn’t just the fear of losing her job that kept Sarah up at night – it was the knowledge that behind every statistic, every fall-related accident, there lay a human being, a life forever changed by a moment of carelessness or neglect. It was the weight of that responsibility that weighed heavy on Sarah’s heart, driving her to do everything in her power to keep her patients safe.

Yet, despite her best efforts, there were moments when Sarah felt utterly helpless, powerless to prevent the inevitable. She’d tried everything – conducting risk assessments, implementing fall prevention strategies, educating patients and their families – but still, the accidents happened, the injuries occurred, and the guilt consumed her like a poison coursing through her veins 

And so, she soldiered on, day after day, striving to be the best nurse she could be, despite the constant uncertainty that threatened every workday. She would continue to do whatever she could to prevent patient injuries. At the same time, she must learn how to cope with these adverse situations with empathy, concern, and self-compassion. Only then could she continue performing her duty, her mission to care for those who couldn’t care for themselves, to the utmost as she had done for the last 25 years.