Focused educational intervention improves but may not sustain knowledge regarding falls management

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Patient Safety
• Quality Improvement

Background:

• Hospital falls are common, with significant injury rates and associated healthcare costs.
• Junior doctors are key in managing in-hospital falls, necessitating robust knowledge of prevention and post-fall care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the knowledge retention of falls management among Foundation Year 1 (FY1) doctors after a targeted educational intervention.

Main Methods:

• A quality improvement project involving a questionnaire administered to 31 FY1 doctors before and after an educational presentation.
• Knowledge assessment at 6 and 16 weeks post-intervention, with data analyzed using unpaired t-tests.

Main Results:

• Mean knowledge scores increased from 73.7% pre-intervention to 85.2% early post-intervention, but declined to 76.4% by 16 weeks.
• The observed knowledge improvement was not sustained long-term and did not translate into changes in clinical practice regarding falls management.

Conclusions:

• Short-term educational interventions can boost knowledge but lack lasting impact on clinical practice for falls management.
• Alternative methods are required to ensure sustained knowledge and facilitate the translation of learning into improved patient safety practices.