According to data from AHRQ, up to 1,000,000 Americans fall while in the hospital each year. Furthermore, the CDC tells us that falling once statistically doubles an individual’s odds of falling again. Thus, fall prevention is both a dangerous and expensive challenge for healthcare providers.
Fortunately, targeted interventions can significantly reduce the incidence of patient falls. This article explores falls prevention strategies that can help healthcare providers keep patients safe, including the use of a fall tips prevention toolkit, which has demonstrated impressive results.
Falls happen frequently in hospital settings. Without proper training, frontline care staff may assume that patient falls are inevitable. However, falls are preventable. It is essential to remind staff that falls can be avoided with the right interventions. This aligns falls prevention with the broader culture of patient safety. For further guidance, hospitals can reference the national patient safety goals guide to ensure their training initiatives are aligned with industry standards.
Many organizations use Falls Prevention Week as an opportunity to enhance staff education. This week can be used to retrain staff on risk assessment tools and falls prevention procedures. Incorporating falls prevention into routine staff training ensures a proactive approach to patient safety. Additionally, conducting a hospital survey on patient safety culture can provide deeper insights into improving safety culture related to falls prevention.
Not all patients enter the hospital with the same fall risk. Many teams use tools such as the Morse Falls Scale or ADN’s Fall Prevention Calculator to assess a patient’s fall risk on admission. However, simply identifying a patient as high-risk is not enough. Care teams must develop personalized interventions that account for specific risk factors.
Another evidence-backed tool is the FallTIPS method. The Fall TIPS Prevention Toolkit has proven successful, reducing falls with injury by 34% and overall falls by 15%. Personalized, evidence-based interventions are key to effective falls prevention.
Teams should modify a high-risk patient’s environment to help them navigate successfully during hospitalization. Per the National Council on Aging, such modifications may include:
Something as simple as standardizing meal tray placement in patient rooms is also often effective. Gathering data on when and why falls occur can help you identify opportunities for necessary environmental modifications.
Using evidence-based practices is crucial for reducing patient falls. One successful strategy is to incorporate technology into fall monitoring. Facilities can use automated patient safety incident reporting systems to collect real-time data on falls. Consider switching to electronic event reporting application to improve data collection and analysis.
Beyond that, many facilities also implement a Good Catch program. Such programs allow care teams to celebrate near-miss incidents such as a missed fall risk assessment or incorrect footwear for a fall-risk patient. By reframing near-miss events in a positive light, you’ll create a positive culture surrounding patient safety. Simultaneously, you’ll have a more robust pool of data to draw from when making data-backed policy changes. Data is key to providing the right staff training at the right time.
Christi Owen, the Director of Quality & Risk Management at Minden Medical Center, relayed a recent and very tangible improvement resulting from her enhanced ability to uncover patterns and trends that previously lay hidden after she began using ADN’s Patient Safety Event Reporting Application.
“ADN’s event reporting system made it very easy to look at the time of day that events were occurring. When analyzing falls per unit, we were able to identify that in one particular unit there was an increased number occurring at shift change,” she said. “We implemented an action plan to make sure staff were located in high risk areas during this time. We were able to see an improvement in fall reduction in the unit.”
Read Minden Medical Center’s Event Reporting Case Study here →
The greatest challenges in implementing fall prevention initiatives in hospitals include:
Often, striking the right balance means acknowledging the dignity of both patients and healthcare workers. No patient wants to believe they can fall, and no healthcare worker wants to believe they could be responsible for a fall.
A change in culture can go a long way toward transforming attitudes. It’s often the first step toward prioritizing fall prevention without adding guilt or blame. The more your organization prioritizes continuous improvement, the easier it will be to keep patients safe. Refer to the patient safety event reporting guide for further strategies on overcoming these challenges.
To effectively gauge the success of your fall prevention initiatives, it’s crucial to establish clear metrics and regularly monitor progress. Consider the following key performance indicators (KPIs) when assessing the impact of your efforts:
To effectively track and analyze these KPIs, leverage data analytics tools and establish a regular reporting cadence. Share the results with key stakeholders, including frontline staff, to foster a culture of transparency and continuous improvement. Celebrate successes and identify areas for further enhancement based on the data-driven insights you gather.
By consistently measuring the success and impact of your fall prevention initiatives, you can make informed decisions, allocate resources effectively, and demonstrate the value of your efforts to leadership and external stakeholders.
Falls prevention initiatives are responsible for boosting patient outcomes and lowering costs in healthcare settings. An ongoing commitment to innovative and effective fall prevention strategies can improve your organization’s overall culture and attitudes. Keep an eye on emerging technology and research to continually evaluate your hospital’s procedures. Happier staff and healthier patients begin with a dedication to patient safety culture.
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