Abstract
BackgroundFalls in hospitals are a major risk to patient safety. Health professional education has the potential to be an important aspect of falls prevention interventions. This scoping review was designed to investigate the extent of falls prevention education interventions available for health professionals, and to determine the quality of reporting.MethodA five stage scoping review process was followed based on Arksey and O’Malley’s framework and refined by the Joanna Briggs Institute Methodology for JBI Scoping Reviews. Five online databases identified papers published from January 2008 until May 2019. Papers were independently screened by two reviewers, and data extracted and analysed using a quality reporting framework.ResultsThirty-nine publications were included. Interventions included formal methods of educational delivery (for example, didactic lectures, video presentations), interactive learning activities, experiential learning, supported learning such as coaching, and written learning material. Few studies employed comprehensive education design principles. None used a reporting framework to plan, evaluate, and document the outcomes of educational interventions.ConclusionsAlthough health professional education is recognised as important for falls prevention, no uniform education design principles have been utilised in research published to date, despite commonly reported program objectives. Standardised reporting of education programs has the potential to improve the quality of clinical practice and allow studies to be compared and evaluated for effectiveness across healthcare settings.
Highlights
Falls in hospitals are a major risk to patient safety
The initial research question developed was, (i) What is the extent of education interventions delivered to health professionals, as a single intervention or as part of a multi-faceted intervention, that have been reported in the falls prevention literature? A secondary question was added to further focus the review, (ii) What is the quality of reporting of education interventions delivered to health professionals in the falls prevention literature? The authorship team consisted of researchers with clinical and educational expertise
Eligibility criteria The population of interest was health professionals who had received education related to falls prevention
Summary
Health professional education has the potential to be an important aspect of falls prevention interventions. This scoping review was designed to investigate the extent of falls prevention education interventions available for health professionals, and to determine the quality of reporting. Papers were independently screened by two reviewers, and data extracted and analysed using a quality reporting framework. Much of the literature in this area has focussed on patient education in hospitals [3, 13,14,15], or elderly adults residing in the community or residential aged care [16,17,18]. Educating healthcare professionals about how to prevent falls has been recognised as a priority to improve patient safety in hospitals and residential care [9, 10]. There remains a need for targeted examination of the impact of education to health professionals in prevention of falls, using behavioural
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