Fall Reduction: Strategies in Action

Significance & Background: During the last two years our unit has been trying to address our falls rate.  At the start of this project our unit had the highest rate of falls in our facility. 

Purpose: The goal of this project was to decrease our units falls.

Intervention:Through an EBP practice project interventions were identified.  These interventions included staff education, patient education, and accountability tools.  Staff education was created based off our already existing falls policy with an emphasis on the use of bed alarms.  Staff education was disseminated at multiple time points and via a Team Days approach and walking rounds.  Patient education was utilized and incorporated in our pre-hospital education and at time of admission.  Accountability tools were developed and consistently completed.

Evaluation:  We have been able to decrease our fall rate from our units highest rate of 6.6 to 2.3 per 1,000 patient days.  Accountability was key to our success.

Discussion: Falls initiatives are an on-going process.  Many lessons were learned during our project including how to maintain staff awareness through transparency and story telling.