Prevention of Patient Falls through Perceived Control and other Techniques

Abstract

Every year thousands of patients suffer injury while attempting to make use of bathroom facilities. In addition to the suffering and protracted inpatient care that these incidents cause, hospitals have been faced with staggering costs in the form of increased insurance premiums arising directly out of an increased number of lawsuits. This problem has reached a proportion such that it clearly deserves careful and indepth industry study.This article, while far from a comprehensive study, will attempt to draw certain conclusions and perhaps dispel certain myths based upon a study of 181 patient falls at a 200+-bed community hospital in the Northeastern United States.In the not too distant past, hospitals could not generally be held legally responsible for failure to raise bedrails absent specific medical direction. Such was the case because few, if any, hospitals had guidelines or procedures for the placement of bedrails in the absence of a physician's order.

Eventos adversos: análise de um instrumento de notificação utilizado no gerenciamento de enfermagem

“…Calculating the rate of fall per patient-day (4) , in the total of 265,092 patients-day in the studied period, the result was 0.302 per 1000. Another study about this subject registered that among 181 patients with history of falls, 124 were alert and/or oriented and, among those, 49% fell from their bed, 18% while they were walking around, 25% while they were going to the bathroom and 8% fell from a chair, which indicates similar data to those obtained by this study (13) .…”

Do Hospital Fall Prevention Programs Work? A Systematic Review

“…A total of 39 references were identified, 36 from the North America, and one Irish, one Dutch, one British, and one Australian study. Eighteen studies 45–63 were purely descriptive and were unsuitable for further analysis; 21 contained numerical data (Table 1). There were two randomized controlled trials, 64,65 one prospective study with parallel control, 66 and seven prospective studies with historical control 67–73 .…”

Caracterização das quedas de pacientes segundo notificação em boletins de eventos adversos

“…A related publication about 181 patients with a history of falls refers to falls from bed (49%), while walking (43%) and falls from chair (8%) (8) . In another study, carried out during one year at 42 intensive nursing care units, 64 falls were reported, in which 80% of patients were walking alone or with help, while 20% were bedridden (7) .…”