Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 Apr/Jun;34(2):127-132.
doi: 10.1097/NCQ.0000000000000344.

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

Affiliations

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

Lauraine Spano-Szekely et al. J Nurs Care Qual. 2019 Apr/Jun.

Abstract

Background: A 245-bed community hospital established patient fall prevention as its patient safety priority.

Problem: 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.

Approach: 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.

Outcomes: The fall rate decreased to 1.14, with a 72% expense reduction based on decreased sitter usage.

Conclusions: An interprofessional team successfully reduced falls with an evidence-based fall prevention program.

PubMed Disclaimer

LinkOut - more resources