Preventing patient falls

Falls are among the most common, yet potentially preventable, adverse events experienced by patients in hospitals. Such serious outcomes as physical and emotional injury, increased dependence, admission to a long-term care facility, and poor quality of life can result from falling. Traditionally, elderly patients have been at highest risk for falling, with many falls resulting in serious injury. These injuries cost billions of dollars and expose hospitals and their staff to liability. As the elderly population continues to increase, it is imperative that falls and associated injuries be prevented whenever possible identification of nontraditional patients at high risk for falls is emerging in the professional literature. Nurses are the first line of care in prevention of falls. Educating nurses about risk factors, prevention strategies and application of fall index and fall injury statistics can improve the safety of fall-prone patients. Refining, modifying and individualizing fall risk factors and prevention interventions for traditional and nontraditional high-risk groups is a necessary focus for future research.