Bridging the gap between research and practice: Review of a targeted hospital inpatient fall prevention programme

Abstract

Objective: Falls among older inpatients are frequent and have negative consequences. In this study, the effectiveness of a fall prevention programme in reducing falls and fall injuries in an acute hospital was studied. Design: Retrospective audit. Setting: The Northern Hospital, an acute, metropolitan, hospital in Australia. Intervention: A multi-factorial fall prevention programme that included establishment of a multidisciplinary committee, risk assessment of all patients on "high-risk" wards and targeted interventions for patients identified as high risk. Main outcome measures: Fall and fall injury rates per 1000 occupied bed-days were analysed using generalised additive models (GAM) and,..