Patient Falls

Industry News and Products

New Fall Alarm Sensor for Lightweight Patients Reduces Risk of Falls

Product News: GetWellNetwork Introduces Fall Prevention Education Package for Patients and Families

Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority Releases Advisory

New Products: RFID System Integrates Patient Safety and Equipment Management

NQF Releases Updated Serious Reportable Events

Patient Safety & Quality Healthcare Articles on Fall Prevention

Inpatient Falls: Lessons from the Field
Preventing patient falls and related injuries in acute care settings has been an elusive goal for many hospitals. Falls are a high-risk and high-cost problem (human and fiscal) for all healthcare facilities.

Data Trends: Epidemiology and Impact of Patient Falls in Healthcare Facilities
In the National Patient Safety Goals (NPSG), The Joint Commission (TJC) has emphasized the need to reduce the risk of patient injuries from falls due to their high prevalence and associated adverse outcomes in at-risk patient populations.

The Stories Behind the Data
Narratives in event reporting database reveal opportunities for fall prevention.

Fall Prevention Showcase
Between 2 and 15% of hospital patients in the United States experience falls. Nearly a third result in injuries and sometimes even death. Preventing falls in the acute environment is a constant battle against gravity and human behavior.

Hospitals Collaborate to Prevent Falls
Philadelphia-area hospitals have charted a unique strategy in patient safety: Facilities that are normally competing for patients are collectively identifying effective measures to prevent patient falls.

Never Events: Rhode Island Hospital Uses Integrated Approach to Prevent Falls
Falls have been a patient safety concern for years. Yet there has been an increased focus on this issue in recent times, as its scope and resulting costs have come into clearer focus.

Safety Culture: Oregon Hospitals Use Survey Results to Drive Change
Medical error rates at hospitals are under scrutiny as never before, both from within and outside the healthcare profession. In response, many hospitals have begun transforming their internal cultures to align medical practice more closely with safety goals.

Communication, Collaboration and Critical Thinking — Quality Outcomes
You are a nurse on a busy medical-surgical unit, it's Friday night, and you have just come on duty. You check your patients and become concerned about Mr. Z, who is scheduled for orthopedic surgery tomorrow.

Common Cause Analysis
A large health organization used common cause analysis to investigate medication errors throughout the system, identify solutions, and reduce adverse events in high-risk medications by 50%.

Patient Safety Organizations: Building a Safer Healthcare System
The surge of voluntary regional and national initiatives to improve patient safety demonstrates the momentum building to unite the healthcare community. Recently, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement's 100,000 and 5 Million Lives Campaigns enrolled thousands of hospitals in a concerted effort targeting patient safety.