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Inside scoop from our experts: Fall prevention initiatives

HCPro's Weekly Update on the ANCC Magnet Recognition Program®*, December 6, 2010

This week’s question about fall prevention initiatives comes from a discussion on JourneyTalk.

Q: Our organization is working on fall prevention. We would love to talk to someone who has dramatically reduced falls on their nursing units.

A: We have been very successful in reducing our falls. Over the past two years, we have reduced them by 50%. We have a 40 bed neurology unit. Here are some of our initiatives (we have a fall group that meets monthly with staff nurses, managers, pharmacist and physicians):

• Change how Ambien is ordered (removed from all order sets)
• Institute the John Hopkins fall assessment program, and monitoring of the fall assessment and plan of care
• Review activity orders: work with physical therapy on increasing activity on our unit
• Over the past three years: purchase new beds with exit alarms
• Case review of all falls, a fall "SWAT" team that meets with unit councils on decreasing unit falls
• Monthly fall data pushed out to unit councils
• Clinical nurses involved in performance improvement projects to decrease falls
• Celebrations on units when fall rate decreases over one quarter
• Pharmacist review of medications of patients that fall

Editor's note: On JourneyTalk you can network with your peers, discuss the new manual, share your helpful tips, and get advice on how to meet the program's expectations.

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