Preventing falls to keep our patients safe
Because of their frequency, inpatient falls are a leading source of hospital-related injuries. According to studies published in Clinical Nursing Research and Clinical Geriatric Medicine, between 3 and 20 percent of patients will fall once during their hospitalization, with 30 to 51 percent of those falls resulting in injury.
From hosting webinars to disseminating newsletters, IHA provides members with the most up-to-date resources on how to prevent and reduce inpatient falls, including the Eight Goals for Fall-Related Injury Risk and Reduction created by the Veterans Affairs National Center for Patient Safety:
- Improve organizational infrastructure and capacity for fall prevention programs
- Ensure a safe environment
- Integrate equipment safety strategies to reduce falls
- Mitigate or eliminate patients’ modifiable fall risk factors
- Reduce moderate to serious fall-related injuries for vulnerable populations with specific fall injury reduction programs (such as ABCS, geriatric psychiatry, homecare, etc.)
- Assure reliable communication at handoff about fall risk factors and injury risks
- Reliably integrate the patient’s family as a partner in their fall prevention program
- Redesign falls program evaluation precision
RESOURCES:
