Hospital falls prevention maturity model: a framework for advancing safety practices

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Quality and Patient Safety
• Risk Management in Healthcare Settings
• Clinical Informatics and Health Information Systems

Background:

• Hospital falls are frequent, harmful events with significant patient and system consequences.
• Existing incident reporting systems (IRS) face challenges like underreporting and data fragmentation, limiting effectiveness.
• A structured approach is needed to enhance hospital fall management and patient safety.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a theoretical maturity model (MM) for assessing and improving hospital fall management.
• To address limitations in current risk management tools for patient falls.
• To provide a framework for enhancing patient safety through comprehensive fall management.

Main Methods:

• A systematic literature review (SLR) guided by Joanna Briggs Institute and PRISMA guidelines.
• Inductive thematic analysis to identify core capabilities for effective falls management.
• Development of a conceptual MM, data collection instrument, and fuzzy multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) approach.

Main Results:

• A conceptual maturity model (MM) was developed to evaluate organizational maturity in hospital fall management.
• The MM facilitates identification of organizational gaps and prioritization of improvement actions.
• A fuzzy MCDM approach was integrated for data aggregation, with an illustrative example demonstrating applicability.

Conclusions:

• The theoretical MM provides a foundation for research, tool development, and clinical application in fall management.
• It promotes a comprehensive strategy by integrating fall factors, reporting quality, and system characteristics.
• The model supports coordinated enhancement of patient safety beyond isolated interventions.