Using research-based interventions to decrease patient falls

The purpose of this study was to decrease patient falls by applying relevant interventions found in the nursing research literature. Clinical nurse specialists assisted staff with the application of selected research-based patient fall program interventions on two adult medical-surgical specialty units in a tertiary care facility. The fall rate on these two units decreased during the study year, while the all-hospital patient fall rate increased. To encourage comparison of fall data among institutions, a standard method for calculating fall rate is presented.