• Bernice Redley and Tim Baker.
• School of Nursing and Midwifery, Nursing Research Centre, Monash Health-Deakin Partnership, Deakin University, Burwood, Victoria, Australia.
• J Clin Nurs. 2019 Feb 1; 28 (3-4): 560-574.

Aims And ObjectivesTo test the mnemonic Have you SCAND MMe Please? as a framework to audit nursing care to prevent harms common to older inpatients.BackgroundIt is not known if acute hospital care comprehensively addresses eight interrelated factors that contribute to preventable harms common in older hospitalised patients.DesignRetrospective audit of medical records.MethodsA random selection of 400 medical records of inpatients over 65 years of age with an unplanned admission of longer than 72 hr in acute medical wards at four hospitals in Victoria, Australia, during 2011-12, was examined for frequency of documented evidence of assessments, interventions or new problems related to eight factors contributing to common preventable harms during hospitalisation.ResultsAssessments of skin integrity (94%-97%), mobility (95%-98%) and pain (93%-97%) were most often documented. Gaps in assessment of continence (4%-31%), nutrition (9%-49%), cognition (delirium, depression and dementia) (10%-24%) were most common. No patient record had evidence of all eight factors being assessed. Almost 80% of records had interventions documented for one or more factors that contribute to preventable harms. In almost 20% of patient records, a new preventable harm was documented during hospitalisation.ConclusionsThe mnemonic Have you SCAND MMe Please? brings together eight factors known to contribute to preventable harms common in older hospitalised patients. This framework was useful to identify gaps in assessment and interventions for factors that contribute to preventable harms during acute hospital care. Future research should test if the mnemonic can assist nurses with comprehensive harm prevention during acute hospitalisation.Relevance To Clinical PracticeThe mnemonic Have you SCAND MMe Please? represents eight factors that contribute to preventable harms common in older hospitalised patients. This framework provides a model for harm prevention to assist nurses to implement comprehensive harm prevention to improve quality of care and safety for older hospitalised patients.© 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

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