• E-mail
• Print
• RSS

Simple programs can help you reduce the risk of patient falls

Ambulatory Safety Monitor, October 13, 2005

Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to Ambulatory Safety Monitor!

Patient falls first landed on the JCAHO's National Patient Safety Goals list for hospitals this year. Even though it didn't make the list for ambulatory surgery centers (ASC), many of these organizations are still recognizing and working to reduce the risk that falls present to patient safety.

In Monroeville, PA, for example, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC)-Monroeville instituted the "Catch a Falling Star" program about six months ago. It's a simple program, says Carol Fiske-Boumbouras, CMSC, medical staff coordinator, but it provides a little more assurance that patients are safer from falls.

Can it really be that easy?

This program takes little money, no additional staff, and minimal training time. All employees must do is put gold star stickers on the medical records of patients who are at risk of falling.

This way, the information follows them throughout their visit to the facility and serves as a red flag should the patients return for another procedure in the future.

"It lets staff know that they should be careful with this patient and watch him [or her] more closely when he [or she] gets out of bed or out of a wheelchair," says Fiske-Boumbouras.

The idea came from the ASC's parent organization, the UPMC. The hospital reported its success with the program, so the surgery center latched onto the idea and made it a part of its quality assurance plan, which it follows each month.

The Pennsylvania ASC, like many others, didn't have a lot of reported falls, but even one is too many, Fiske-Boumbouras says. "Your patients come in for something else, [and] they don't need a fall on top of that," she says. "Falls should concern [all healthcare settings]. They need to be on everyone's agenda." Since UPMC-Monroeville instituted Catch a Falling Star, no falls have been reported there.

Who is at risk in my facility?

Anybody can fall. Although high-risk patients tend to be the elderly, other patient populations can also experience an untimely descent. For example, a child with a broken leg, multiple sclerosis, or cerebral palsy may be a fall risk.

Fiske-Boumbouras reminds ASC staffs that in addition to physical limitations, other factors exist that may lead to a fall, including the following:

• Anxiety
• Unfamiliar location
• Facility-provided slippers, which may not give the same support as patients' shoes

Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to Ambulatory Safety Monitor!

• E-mail to a Colleague
• Print
• RSS
• Archive