Fall Prevention Practices in Adult Medical-Surgical Nursing Units Described by Nurse Managers

Abstract

The purpose of this article was to describe nursing practices (e.g., assessment, interventions) around fall prevention, as perceived by nurse managers in adult, medical-surgical nursing units. One hundred forty nurse managers from 51 hospitals from across the United States participated. Descriptive frequencies are used to describe nurse manager responses. The most commonly used fall risk assessment tool was the Morse Fall Risk Assessment Tool (40%). The most common fall prevention interventions included bed alarms (90%), rounds (70%), sitters (68%), and relocating the patient closer to the nurses' station (56%). Twenty-nine percent of nurse managers identified physical restraints as an intervention to prevent falls whereas only 10% mentioned ambulation. No nurse manager identified that RN hours per patient-day were adjusted to prevent falls or fall-related injuries. More work is needed to build systems that ensure evidence-based nursing interventions are consistently applied in acute care.

Managing delirium in the acute care setting: a pilot focus group study

“…They moved patients into rooms closer to the nurses’ station or used sitters. Recent research has identified the use of sitters as a common strategy used within the acute care setting to prevent falls (Shever et al. , 2011).…”

“…They moved patients into rooms closer to the nurses' station or used sitters. Recent research has identified the use of sitters as a common strategy used within the acute care setting to prevent falls (Shever et al, 2011). Sitters are either volunteers or paid staff, licensed or unlicensed, used to stay with patients at high risk of injury or falls (Tzeng, 2007).…”

Nurses’ Knowledge, Attitude and Practices on Fall Prevention in King Abdul Aziz Hospital, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

“…Another demographic factor that might be the reason for communication gap was that majority of nurse were from Philippine and Malaysia who were not fluent in Arabic. Another shortcoming was found in the medical curriculum because majority of nurse had bachelor degree, however about 60% did not received FP training [4][5][6][7][8][9][10].…”

“…In relation to nursing practice related to FP, color coding was found to be a major intervention for preventing fall and they also wanted improvement in FP policies. There is a need to give more power and autonomous role to nurses to prevent falls and maximize health and safety of patients during hospital stay [10][11][12][13][14][15].…”

Evidence Levels: Applied to Select Fall and Fall Injury Prevention Practices

“…Movement alarms are one of the most commonly used fall prevention strategies in hospitals (Shever, Titler, Lehan Mackin, & Kueny, ). However, movement alarms were never designed to prevent falls, rather they serve as an early warning signal that a patient is starting to get up from a bed or chair.…”