[A project to reduce accidental falls among mentally ill residents in a long-term care facility]

Individuals with mental illness are highly vulnerable to personal health and safety threats. In recent years, the increasing incidence of accidental falls among residents of long-term care facilities has been attributed to aging, disease symptoms, and sedative drug effects.

This project aimed to reduce the fall incidence rate for mentally ill residents in our hospital from 0.0015% to 0.0012% in order to reduce patient injuries and avoid the long-term health consequences of these injuries.

This project was conducted between January 1st, 2011 and December 31st, 2011. Our approach included direct observation, literature review, meeting discussions, and data compilation. The intervention composed four facets: (1) Staff: providing education and training skills to prevent patient falls; (2) residents: enhancing patient motivation to keep physically fit and assess medication side effects; (3) environment: increasing living condition safety; (4) policy: replacing defective equipment, performing equipment checks on schedule, and managing a fall-prevention program.

The post-intervention fall incidence rate for mentally ill residents was 0.0007%, which was significantly better than our target.

We reviewed plans and improved the fall-prevention strategy for mentally ill residents of long-term care facilities. This project provides a reference for care program planners and administrators.