Fall and injury prevention

Falls and related injuries are increasingly being recognized as a nursing-sensitive quality indicator, and they continue to be an unsolved patient safety problem in inpatient and outpatient care areas as well as in the community at large. The purpose of this review is to summarize the current research related to fall and injury prevention. The chapter is organized presenting research in (1) the community and (2) acute and long-term care settings. For each setting, the research that addresses risk factors, risk assessment instruments, and fall and injury prevention efforts are reviewed. There is a large body of research that investigates fall and injury prevention across the care continuum. In the community setting, targeted risk evaluation in the emergency department and management of vitamin D deficiency appear to be promising preventive methods. However, further research needs to explore staffing ratios, automated methods of assessing and communicating fall risk, improved methods and timing of risk evaluation and methods by which existing and new evidence might be translated into practice.