Hospital Fall Prevention Research Articles

Considerations across multiple stakeholder groups when implementing fall prevention programs in the acute hospital setting: a qualitative study.

Falls in hospital remain a common and costly patient safety issue internationally. There is evidence that falls in hospitals can be prevented by multifactorial programs and by education for patients and staff, but these are often not routinely or effectively implemented in practice. Perspectives of multiple key stakeholder groups could inform implementation of fall prevention strategies. Clinicians of different disciplines, patients and their families were recruited from wards at two acute public hospitals. Semi-structured interviews and focus groups were conducted to gain a broad understanding of participants' perspectives about implementing fall prevention programs. Data were analysed using an inductive thematic approach. Data from 50 participants revealed three key themes across the stakeholder groups shaping implementation of acute hospital fall prevention programs: (i) 'Fall prevention is a priority, but whose?' where participants agreed falls in hospital should be addressed but did not necessarily see themselves as responsible for this; (ii) 'Disempowered stakeholders' where participants expressed feeling frustrated and powerless with fall prevention in acute hospital settings; and (iii) 'Shared responsibility may be a solution' where participants were optimistic about the positive impact of collective action on effectively implementing fall prevention strategies. Key stakeholder groups agree that hospital fall prevention is a priority, however, challenges related to role perception, competing priorities, workforce pressure and disempowerment mean fall prevention may often be neglected in practice. Improving shared responsibility for fall prevention implementation across disciplines, organisational levels and patients, family and staff may help overcome this.

Health Workers' Perception on Fall Risk Prevention: A Photovoice Method.

Health workers' awareness can affect hospital fall prevention success. Enhancing awareness can be achieved by exploring their perspectives on the phenomenon. This study aims to explore health workers' perceptions regarding fall risk prevention in hospitals. This study employed qualitative methods using photovoice. The participants were 20 health workers. The data collection was done within several steps, such as (1) The photographs of fall prevention were collected at 5 different hospitals within 3 months; (2) 20 photos were selected to be shown in the photo exhibition; (3) Participants were asked to reflect on the meaning of the photographs during photo exhibition, individually through Google Form and interview using SHOWED guidelines. This study identified 4 themes, including (1) the importance of fall risk identification, including environmental and physiological identification and the use of the appropriate assessment instrument based on age range; (2) the role of family and patient education, but does not guarantee that those who are educated have better attention; (3) involvement of nonhealthcare workers, such as security guide's contribution to identify patients; (4) application of fall protection and signs is crucial stuff to be applied in an appropriate way to prevent patients from falls. Health workers encountered both positive and negative aspects related to fall prevention strategies in hospital settings. Health workers' perspectives can be considered by stakeholders to help improve hospital fall prevention regulations.

Fall Tailoring Interventions for Patient Safety Brazil Program: an evaluability study in a teaching hospital.

to present the theoretical model, logic model, and the analysis and judgment matrix of the Fall TIPS Brazil Program. a qualitative, participatory research approach, in the form of an evaluability study, encompassing the phases (1) problem analysis; (2) program design, development, and adaptation to the Brazilian context; (3) program dissemination. Data were collected through document analysis and workshops. through document analysis, workshops with stakeholders from the participating institution, and validation with key informants, it was possible to identify the program's objectives, expected outcomes, and the target audience. This allowed the construction of theoretical and logic models and, through evaluative questions, the identification of indicators for the evaluation of the Fall TIPS Brazil Program. this study has provided insights into the Fall TIPS program, the topic of hospital fall prevention, and the proposed models and indicators can be employed in the implementation and future evaluative processes of the program.

Blind Spots in Hospital Fall Prevention: Falls in Stroke Patients Occurred Not Only in Those at a High Risk of Falling

ObjectivesAlthough the standard falls prevention strategy is to identify and respond to patients with high-risk conditions, it remains unclear whether falls in patients with high fall risk account for most observed falls. In this study, fall risk and number of falls were calculated based on patients' motor and cognitive abilities, and the relationship between the two was examined. DesignWe conducted a retrospective cohort study. Setting and ParticipantsWe included 2518 consecutive patients with stroke who were admitted to a rehabilitation hospital. MethodsData on falls during hospitalization and biweekly assessed Functional Independence Measure scores were retrieved from the medical records. The average Functional Independence Measure scores for the motor and cognitive items were obtained and categorized as complete dependence, modified dependence, and independence. The fall rate (falls/1000 person-days) and number of observed falls in each combined condition were investigated. ResultsModified dependence on motor ability and complete dependence on cognitive ability had the highest risk of falls, with a fall rate of 10.8/1000 person-days and 51 fall observations, which accounted for 4.3% of all falls. Independent motor and cognitive ability had the lowest risk of falls, a fall rate of 2.6/1000 person-days and 146 observed falls, accounting for 12.4% of all falls, which was 2.8 times higher than the number of falls observed in the highest risk of falls condition. Conclusions and ImplicationsThe combined motor-cognitive ability with the highest risk of falls in stroke inpatients did not have the highest number of observed falls. Rather, the combined motor-cognitive ability with the lowest risk of falls tended to have a high number of observed falls. A different strategy is needed to reduce the total number of falls.

Efficacy of standard operating procedures for fall protection in hospitalized patients with schizophrenia

Fall-related injury is the most common cause of functional disability and mortality in the older population. Falls in patients with schizophrenia are one of the major concerns in psychiatric hospitals. This study aimed to examine the impact of standardized operating procedures (SOP) on falls in veterans with schizophrenia. Veterans with schizophrenia were allocated to the control group (n = 345) and to the fall protection standardized operating procedures (FP-SOP) group (n = 342). Patients in the control group were given routine nursing for falls, and patients in the FP-SOP group were intervened with FP-SOP plus routine nursing. All patients were observed for one year. The study methods comply with the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) checklist. We found a fall rate of 1.5% in the FP-SOP group and 4.6% in the control group, with a significant difference in the fall rate between the two groups. In addition, the difference in patient satisfaction between the two groups was statistically significant. Our findings suggest that FP-SOP is an effective strategy for fall prevention in psychiatric hospitals.

Fall prevention in hospitals and nursing homes: Clinical practice guideline.

BackgroundFalls and their consequences are particularly common in older adults in hospitals and long‐term care (LTC) facilities.AimTo avoid falls and their consequences, and provide nurses with an overview of all relevant research literature on fall prevention, and a practice guideline on fall prevention in older adults was developed.MethodsThe development process included a systematic literature review to identify systematic reviews and primary studies on the topic of fall prevention, an assessment of the study quality, the preparation of meta‐analyses to summarize the results, and the application of the GRADE (Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation) approach to grade the scientific literature. The guideline panel and an external multidisciplinary team graded the recommendations using the Delphi method. In addition, the panel and team formulated expert opinions.ResultsA total of 79 randomized controlled trials on fall prevention were identified, which formed the basis of the recommendations. Strongly recommended measures for both settings included multifactorial interventions, professionally supported body exercise interventions, and education and counselling interventions. The panel and team did not recommend the use of a specific assessment tool for fall risk assessment, low‐floor beds in hospitals, or body exercise interventions in frail residents.Linking Evidence to ActionDuring the development of this guideline, particular attention was paid to collecting evidence‐based knowledge relevant to practice. By applying the recommendations, the outlined nursing care is justified, enabling healthcare personnel to achieve the overriding goal of providing optimal care to persons at risk of falling. Evidence for several fall prevention interventions was graded as very low. Sound intervention studies are necessary to strengthen the confidence in the evidence for low‐floor beds, alarm sensor systems, medication review, and staff education in hospitals.

Relying on Myself: The Lived Experience of Being at Risk for Falling in the Hospital Among Older Adults

Inpatient falls are a persistent problem and despite research efforts during the last decade, inpatient fall rates have not significantly decreased. Older adults have an estimated 50% greater inpatient fall rate than younger adults. How older adults perceive their own fall risk affects their adherence to fall prevention recommendations. The aim of this phenomenological study was to gain a deeper understanding of the lived experiences of being at risk for falling in the hospital among older adults aged 65 years and older (N=9). Participants (female=55%, age range=67 – 86) were interviewed twice using video conferencing within two weeks of hospital discharge. The audio-recorded interviews were transcribed, and then analyzed using van Manen’s interpretive phenomenological method. The Health Belief Model expanded with the concepts of independence, fear of falling, embarrassment, dignity, and positivity effect served as the theoretical framework. Five major interpretive themes emerged: Relying on Myself, Managing Balance Problems in an Unfamiliar Environment, Struggling to Maintain Identity, Following the Hospital Rules, and Maintaining Dignity in the Relationships with Nursing Staff. These themes describe how the participants thoughtfully planned their mobilization to avoid falls. This process was influenced by their struggling to remain independent, following the hospital fall prevention rules out of politeness, and experiencing both positive and negative relationships with nursing staff. Hospitalized older adults employed their self-efficacy to manage balance problems in the hospital. These findings have not been previously documented in the literature. Fall prevention interventions supporting hospitalized older adults’ self-management of fall risk are needed.

Design and Implementation of a Wearable Accelerometer-Based Motion/Tilt Sensing Internet of Things Module and Its Application to Bed Fall Prevention.

Accelerometer-based motion sensing has been extensively applied to fall detection. However, such applications can only detect fall accidents; therefore, a system that can prevent fall accidents is desirable. Bed falls account for more than half of patient falls and are preceded by a clear warning indicator: the patient attempting to get out of bed. This study designed and implemented an Internet of Things module, namely, Bluetooth low-energy-enabled Accelerometer-based Sensing In a Chip-packaging (BASIC) module, with a tilt-sensing algorithm based on the patented low-complexity COordinate Rotation DIgital Computer (CORDIC)-based algorithm for tilt angle conversions. It is applied for detecting the postural changes (from lying down to sitting up) and to protect individuals at a high risk of bed falls by prompting caregivers to take preventive actions and assist individuals trying to get up. This module demonstrates how motion and tilt sensing can be applied to bed fall prevention. The module can be further miniaturized or integrated into a wearable device and commercialized in smart health-care applications for bed fall prevention in hospitals and homes.

Systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical trials: In-hospital use of sensors for prevention of falls.

Background:Intra-hospital falls have become an important public health problem globally. The use of movement sensors with alarms has been studied as elements with predictive capacity for falls at hospital level. However, in spite of their use in some hospitals throughout the world, evidence is lacking about their effectiveness in reducing intra-hospital falls. Therefore, this study aims to develop a systematic review and meta-analysis of existing scientific literature exploring the impact of using sensors for fall prevention in hospitalized adults and the elderly population.Methods:We explored literature based on clinical trials in Spanish, English, and Portuguese, assessing the impact of devices used for hospital fall prevention in adult and elderly populations. The search included databases such as IEEE Xplore, the Cochrane Library, Scopus, PubMed, MEDLINE, and Science Direct databases. The critical appraisal was performed independently by two researchers. Methodological quality was assessed based on the ratings of individual biases. We performed the sum of the results, generating an estimation of the grouped effect (Relative Risk, 95% CI) for the outcome first fall for each patient. We assessed heterogeneity and publication bias. The study followed PRISMA guidelines.Results:Results were assessed in three randomized controlled clinical trials, including 29,691 patients. A total of 351 (3%) patients fell among 11,769 patients assigned to the intervention group, compared with 426 (2.4%) patients who fell among 17,922 patients assigned to the control group (general estimation RR 1.20, 95% CI 1.04, 1.37, P = .02, I2 = 0%; Moderate GRADE).Conclusion:Our results show an increase of 19% in falls among elderly patients who are users of sensors located in their bed, bed-chair, or chair among their hospitalizations. Other types of sensors such as wearable sensors can be explored as coadjutants for fall prevention care in hospitals.

SPN 2021 Poster Abstract Awards

SPN 2021 Poster Abstract Awards

Perceptions of Care Among Older Adults Identified as Fall Risk During a Hospital Stay

In-hospital falls are a significant clinical, legal and regulatory problem. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid no longer reimburse hospitals for falls that result in injury, adding increase pressure on acute care settings to prevent falls. Additionally, evidence-based practice recommendations for fall prevention in hospitals do not exist, thus leaving administrators to create their own programs. One common strategy used by hospital providers to prevent falls is to restrict patient mobility. Little information on how older adult patients experience fall prevention during a hospital stay has been published. The purpose of this study was to understand perceptions of care among older adults identified as fall risk during a hospital stay. This qualitative study utilized inductive content analysis. Older adults (N=20) from a large academic medical center in the Midwest were recruited to participate in one-to one in-depth interviews. Open coding, categorization and abstraction was used to analyze the data. Three main categories were identified that summarized the older adult patient perception of hospitalization: Act of Caring, something they received from staff, provide to staff or provided to self; Being Restricted in movement resulting in either accepting or rejecting the restriction and Being Freed at discharge, often being told “just be careful”. Older adult identified as fall risk described being restricted in movement during a hospital stay. Many passively accepted this restriction even though they felt a lack of movement would be harmful to them. Additional research on the patient experience with fall prevention is needed.

Predicting Falls Risk in Hospital; KPJ Seremban Experience

Introduction: Falls may result in injuries, prolonged hospitalization, increase in morbidity and mortality, incur cost to the individual and the healthcare system and increase potential litigation. Various hospital fall prevention programs such as Morse Fall Scale Assessment Tool have been implemented in the last decade; however most of the program had no sustained effects on falls reduction over extended period of time. Benchmarking from private hospitals showed patients fall increased by 27% in 2008 as compared to 2007 (MPC report, 2008). There were 25 cases of falls in 2008 at KPJ Seremban Specialist Hospital. The objective of this program is to comply with The Joint Commission’s National Patient Safety Goals 9, “reduce the risk of patient harm resulting from falls” and to formulate evidence based best clinical practice recommendations on assessment and prevention of falls in the hospital for all inpatients, outpatients, customers and staffs within hospital premises. Materials and Methods: Contributing factors were identified based on the retrospective analysis of falls from 1st.January 2008 to 30th September 2008. A fall risk assessment tool identified as KPJ FRAT (KPJ Fall Risk Assessment Tool) for inpatient was developed and various other strategies to reduce the risk of falls throughout the hospital premises were identified. Points of engagement for inpatient assessment using KPJ FRAT were on admission, transfer in or when there is a change in patients’ condition. A prospective descriptive study was done and data was collected from 1st January 2009 till 31st December 2009 through interview with patients, healthcare providers and review of adverse event reports and medical records. Results: No of inpatients during this study were 37058 and there were 13 falls. The post implementation data reflects for every 1000 inpatient days the fall rate decreased to 4.3 falls. Conclusion: The use of KPJ FRAT and Fall Prevention program implemented throughout KPJ SSH has reduced the incidence of falls significantly by 48%. This might be due to increase awareness among the staff, hospital wide policy to report all cases and the formation of patient safety committee to formulate policy and reinforce the implementation processes. Limitation of the study include under reporting and heavy workload.

Fall prevention implementation strategies in use at 60 United States hospitals: a descriptive study

BackgroundTo guide fall prevention efforts, United States organisations, such as the Joint Commission and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, have recommended organisational-level implementation strategies: leadership support, interdisciplinary falls...

MOTIVATIONAL INTERVIEWING TO ENGAGE OLDER INPATIENTS IN FALL PREVENTION: PILOT RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIAL

Motivational Interviewing (MI) is an evidence-based approach for fostering behavior change and holds potential to engage patients in behavior change related to fall prevention. A two-arm, unblinded, pilot randomized controlled trial was conducted in a hospital setting to determine the feasibility (recruitment and retention), establish suitable procedures for the intervention (duration and quality of MI), and to test study measurements (fear of falling, importance and confidence related to fall prevention, patient activation, fall prevention behaviors, and fall rates). Participants were high fall risk older inpatients (age ≥ 65). The intervention arm received MI at one time during hospitalization in addition to routine hospital fall prevention intervention. The control arm received the routine hospital care for fall prevention only. Measures were collected at baseline, 2-days, 1-week, 1-month, and 3-month. A total of 120 inpatients were contacted by the study team and 67 were randomized: intervention arm (n=36) and control arm (n=31). Approximately 66% of participants completed the study at the 3-month data collection and MI intervention took an average of 21 minutes and was of adequate quality. The intervention group reported less fear of falling after the MI intervention and maintained fall prevention behaviors over time (p<.05). The study identified that MI for fall prevention at a hospital setting was feasible to deliver and provided insights into suitable study procedures and beginning evidence for a positive impact of MI.

ABILITY OF THE PHYSIOLOGICAL PROFILE ASSESSMENT TO CLASSIFY FALLER TYPE: A PROSPECTIVE COHORT STUDY

Accurately identifying older adults who will experience subsequent falls is important for the provision of secondary fall prevention. The purpose of this study was to determine the accuracy of the Physiological Profile Assessment (PPA) – a valid and reliable fall-risk assessment [1] – in predicting subsequent falls over a 12-month period in older adults who sought for medical attention after an index fall. Seven hundred thirty-seven community-dwelling adults, aged 70 years and older, who were seen at the Vancouver General Hospital Fall Prevention Clinic, completed the PPA at their initial visit. Falls over the subsequent 12 months were tracked prospectively via monthly falls calendars. All individuals received geriatric care at baseline. Binary logistic regressions were performed to determine the accuracy of classifying two prospective faller types: 1) no additional falls; 2) one or more additional fall(s). Baseline PPA, age, and sex were entered as independent variables. During the 12 month observation period, 345 participants had no additional falls (Age:81.3±6.6yrs;Female=251) and 392 fell one or more times (Age:82.3±6.5yrs;Female=230). The classification accuracy was 51.3% for those who had no additional falls and 64.8% for those with one or more additional fall(s) (Overall:58.5%;χ2=29.0;PPA:β=-0.21;Age:β=-0.01;Sex:β=-60). The PPA was not able to accurately differentiate between those who did and did not subsequently fall. Fall-risk assessment sensitivity and specificity should be improved in older adults seeking medical attention following an index fall to inform secondary fall prevention. [1] Lord SR, et al., 2003. Phys Ther.

A systematic evaluation of the postfall psychological experience of inpatients and the cognitive quality of fall prevention

Objective To systematic evaluate the real experience of patients after falling during hospitalization and qualitative research on the cognition and demand for fall prevention will provide theoretical basis for patients, their families, medical staff and medical institutions to better carry out fall prevention. Methods English databases such as PsycINFO, Medline, Embase, CINAHL, Cochrane, PubMed, and Chinese databases such as Chinese biomedical literature database, CNKI, Wanang database were retrieved by computer. Included qualitative studies on the emotional experience of fall of inpatients and their cognition and needs for fall prevention. The retrieval time limit was until November 1, 2018.The literature was evaluated using the quality evaluation criteria for qualitative research (2016) of the JBI evidence-based health care center, and the results were integrated using a pooled integration method. Results A total of 8 studies were included, and 33 clear research results were extracted. Similar results were summarized and combined to form 7 new categories, which were integrated into 4 results. Results 1: psychological experience of hospitalized patients after falling down. Integration results 2: the causes of falls from the perspective of inpatients. Integration results 3: hospital fall prevention measures and evaluation from the perspective of inpatients. Integration result 4: inpatients expected to receive care from their families and help from medical staff. Conclusion Fall events seriously affect the mental health of patients; Patients′ cognition of falling is affected and changed by many factors. Fall prevention should shift from clinical focus to patient-centered and attach importance to the participation of family members. Key words: Patients; Fall; Qualitative research; System evaluation

Feasibility of Motivational Interviewing to Engage Older Inpatients in Fall Prevention: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.

In the current 3-month, two arm, unblinded, single site, pilot randomized controlled trial, 120 high fall risk hospitalized older adults (age ≥65) were contacted, and 67 participants were enrolled. The intervention arm received a brief motivational interviewing (MI) intervention. Both arms received routine hospital fall prevention protocols. Measurements were conducted at baseline, 2 days, 1 week, 1 month, and 3 months. MI intervention took approximately 21 minutes and was provided at beginning proficiency level. Approximately 66% of participants completed 3-month data collection. The intervention group reported a greater decrease in fear of falling after the intervention than the control arm (β = -0.856 vs. β = -0.236) and maintained fall prevention behaviors at 3 months (β = 0.001 vs. β = -0.083) (p < 0.05). The current study found brief MI for fall prevention in acute settings feasible and provided preliminary evidence for a positive impact of MI [Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 45(9), 19-29.].

Individualized Fall Prevention Program in an Acute Care Setting: An Evidence-Based Practice Improvement.

A 245-bed community hospital established patient fall prevention as its patient safety priority. The hospital's fall prevention program was not consistently effective. The baseline fall rate was 3.21, higher than the National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators' median of 2.91. An interprofessional fall prevention team evaluated the hospital's fall program using the evidence-based practice improvement model. A clinical practice guideline with 7 key practices guided the development of an individualized fall prevention program with interventions to address 4 fall risk categories and an algorithm to identify interventions. Interventions included nurse-driven mobility assessment, purposeful hourly rounding, and video monitoring for confused and impulsive fall-risk patients. The fall rate decreased to 1.14, with a 72% expense reduction based on decreased sitter usage. An interprofessional team successfully reduced falls with an evidence-based fall prevention program.

Using a Fall Prevention Checklist to Reduce Hospital Falls: Results of a Quality Improvement Project.

A QI team conducted a 26-day fall prevention initiative. Data were collected on day and night shifts for 13 days each. We evaluated the effect of using a new 14-item checklist based on the existing hospitalapproved fall prevention protocol on the nursing staff's adherence to each intervention and on the incidence of falls on the test unit. Oncoming staff used the checklist during change-of-shift handoffs to determine whether all prevention interventions were in place before accepting care of the patient. The incidence of falls was tracked daily. Thirty-seven nursing staff members (RNs and nursing assistants) participated in the pilot study and completed 90 fall prevention checklists. The most frequently missed intervention was setting the bed alarm, which was set incorrectly 19% of the time. There were no patient falls during the pilot study. By evaluating staff use of the fall prevention checklist, the QI team identified frequently missed prevention interventions and areas for improvement in the hospital's fall prevention protocol. A more comprehensive test of the fall prevention checklist's impact on fall prevention is needed.

Views of key stakeholders on the causes of patient falls and prevention interventions: A qualitative study using the international classification of functioning, disability and health.

To examine the views and suggestions of healthcare professionals, patients and family members on the causes of inpatient falls and fall-prevention practices. Patient falls are one of the most prevalent medical errors in the hospitals. In order to prevent patient falls, it is necessary to identify and classify the situations causing falls in detail and preventive interventions for these situations need to be developed. The study was designed using a descriptive qualitative research method. The semi-structured interviews were conducted with four physicians, four charge nurses, 12 nurses, four support staff members, eight patients and eight family members of patients in the palliative, internal disease, surgery and orthopaedic clinics in a training and research hospital between March 2017-May 2017. Thematic analysis method was used to analyse data. The defined themes were classified based on the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health Core Set for Falls in Acute Rehabilitation Settings. In this research, 71 themes related to situations causing falls and 30 themes related to prevention interventions were determined. Defined themes were linked with 44 categories under five International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health domains and organised accordingly. Among the categories included in the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health Core Set for Falls in Acute Rehabilitation Settings, 65% were verified, while 22 new categories that were not included in the original core set were defined. In accordance with this result, evaluating the opinions of all stakeholders on the research and development of fall-prevention programmes will increase the effectiveness of fall prevention in hospitals. The ICF model can be used to classify the causes of falls and fall-prevention interventions to create a common language about this topic. To prevent falls, more detailed and useful information can be obtained by key stakeholders (all healthcare professionals, patient and patient family). ICF Core Set For Falls can be used to systematically classify causes of falls and fall-prevention interventions.