The Role for Health Technology Managers on Fall Prevention Teams

Abstract

Health technology managers (HTMs) play a pivotal role in ensuring that the devices involved in protecting vulnerable patients from suffering falls are functional and safe for use. Patient falls are common events in healthcare settings, with between 700,000 and 1,000,000 patients suffering falls annually in the United States (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Preventing falls in hospitals. Updated July 2018. https://www.ahrq.gov/patient-safety/settings/hospital/fall-prevention/toolkit/index.html). The experience and expertise of HTMs in handling devices throughout their entire lifecycle provide unique perspective and can help to establish proactive measures to ensure the risks of patient falls are mitigated as much as possible. This article will explore, using several real case examples submitted to Food and Drug Administration's MedSun, the many ways that hospitals can best use their HTMs in enhancing their fall prevention teams and overall patient fall mitigation strategies. Among these effective strategies are preadmission risk assessments and education, fostering a no-blame culture of reporting adverse events and device malfunctions, and regular interdisciplinary fall prevention team meetings where best practices can be discussed and implemented.