Fall Prevention: A Best Practice Approach
Contact Hours: 1
Cost: $10.00
Within acute care hospitals and long-term care facilities (e.g., nursing homes and assisted living centers) falls constitute the single largest category of adverse events. Anywhere from 39%-50% of patients (*) experience one or more falls. Falls are associated with significant physical and psychological complications, including:
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Injury (i.e., injurious falls range from minor bruises and sprains to more serious events, such as hip and other fractures, spinal cord and brain injury).
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Immobility resulting in muscle weakness and functional disabilities, which can increase in the risk of further falls (i.e., muscle weakness results in balance instability).
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Psychological distress (e.g. depression, fear of falling).
Patient falls are equally burdensome for staff (e.g., nurses, nursing aides, etc.); often leading to increased workloads (i.e., evaluating falling episodes, caring for patient’s post-fall, extra paperwork, etc.) and concerns about patient "safety", especially risk of legal liability.
(*) The term ‘patients’ is used to refer to both acute care patients and long-term care residents.
Objectives
Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to:
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List the components of a best practice approach to fall prevention
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State the steps in the fall prevention process
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List the advantages of benchmarking or measuring fall rates
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Describe the benefits of auditing fall prevention programs
Curriculum
Chapter One: Introduction
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Why Falls Occur
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Where and When Falls Occur
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When Is a Fall Significant
Chapter Two: Fall Prevention Process
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Assessing Fall Risk
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Multidisciplinary Evaluation
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Care Planning
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Universal Precautions vs. Targeted Interventions
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Monitoring
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Post-Fall Assessment
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Essential Components of a Fall Prevention Program
Chapter Three: Steps to Success
Chapter Four: Measuring Success
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Fall Rates and Benchmarking
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External vs. Internal Benchmarking
Chapter Five: Root Causes of Falls
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Care Process or Staff Factors
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Organizational Factors
Chapter Six: Audits
Chapter Seven: Redesigning Fall Prevention Practices
Appendix
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Post Fall Assessment Policy
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Family Role in Patient Safety
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Calculating Fall Rates: 101
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Role of Falls Nurse Coordinator or Champion