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Inside the program: Reduce patient falls by tracking and trending

HCPro's Weekly Update on the ANCC Magnet Recognition Program®*, March 24, 2009

Patient falls is a nurse-sensitive quality indicator in the 2008 ANCC Magnet Recognition Program® Application Manual. One way to help prevent patient falls is by tracking and trending falls that occur. Start by examining each patient’s history of falls and evaluate interventions in place. Ask these four questions:

1. Is the patient complying with the interventions? If not, why?
2. Is the staff implementing the interventions? If not, why?
3. Are the interventions effective? (The measure of effectiveness is whether the number of falls has been reduced.)
4. If the interventions are not effective, what different interventions should be tried?

Every fall should lead to a reassessment of the patient in question, taking a close look at the cause of the fall and the interventions that were implemented. Every fall requires an incident report, which should be the starting point of the investigation into why the fall occurred and what needs to be done to prevent further falls.

Source: Adapted from HCPro’s book Evidence-Based Falls Prevention: A Study Guide for Nurses, Second Edition.

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