Enhancing fall risk awareness among high fall-risk inpatients: a best practice implementation project

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Quality Improvement
• Patient Safety Research
• Evidence-Based Practice Implementation

Background:

• Falls are a common adverse event in hospitals, impacting patient safety.
• Enhancing patient awareness of fall risks is crucial for effective prevention.
• Current strategies for improving fall risk awareness in high-risk inpatients require further validation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and implement an evidence-based practice (EBP) protocol to increase fall risk awareness in high-risk inpatients.
• To evaluate the protocol's effectiveness in reducing fall rates and improving patient and staff outcomes.
• To compare the EBP protocol's value against existing fall prevention methods.

Main Methods:

• A nonrandomized, pre-post quasi-experimental design was used across seven high-incidence inpatient wards.
• An EBP protocol, derived from 22 recommendations and refined to 18, was implemented over three months.
• Data collected included audit criteria compliance, fall/injury rates, patient risk perception, knowledge, attitudes, behaviors, and nursing staff knowledge/attitudes.

Main Results:

• Significant improvements (p < 0.01) were observed in 16 out of 20 audit criteria post-implementation.
• Fall incidence decreased from 0.48% to 0%, and injury rates also dropped to 0%.
• Patient fall risk perception, knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors significantly improved, as did nursing staff knowledge and attitudes.

Conclusions:

• The EBP protocol effectively enhanced fall risk awareness and prevention in high-risk inpatients.
• The study demonstrated improved patient outcomes and increased knowledge and positive attitudes among nursing staff.
• Findings support integrating patient-centered risk communication into routine fall prevention programs.