Falls in hospitalized geriatric psychiatry patients: high incidence, but only a few fractures

Patient Falls in Seclusion Rooms in Psychiatric Inpatient Care: A Sociotechnical Probabilistic Risk Modeling Study

BACKGROUND

Patient falls are a major adverse event in psychiatric inpatient care.

PURPOSE

To model the risk for patient falls in seclusion rooms in psychiatric inpatient care.

METHODS

Sociotechnical probabilistic risk assessment (ST-PRA) was used to model the risk for falls. Data sources were the research team, literature review, and exploration groups of psychiatric nurses. Data were analyzed with fault tree analysis.

RESULTS

The risk for a patient fall in a seclusion room was 1.8%. Critical paths included diagnosis of a psychiatric disorder, the mechanism of falls, failure to assess and prevent falls, and psychological or physical reason. The most significant individual risk factor for falls was diagnosis of schizophrenia.

CONCLUSIONS

Falls that occur in seclusion events are associated with physical and psychological risk factors. Therefore, risk assessment methods and fall prevention interventions considering patient behavioral disturbance and physiological risk factors in seclusion are warranted.

Prevalence and characteristics of registered falls in a Belgian University Psychiatric Hospital

Objectives

Falls in elderly patients treated in general hospitals have already been the focus of several studies. Research within psychiatric settings, however, remains limited, despite the fact that this population has a number of characteristics that could increase the fall risk. The aim of this retrospective study was to estimate the prevalence of falling in patients with a psychiatric hospital setting.

Methods

A retrospective descriptive chart review of falls registered in the period July 1, 2013 until June 30, 2019 in a Belgian University Psychiatric Hospital was conducted. Data were collected from the "patient related incident report and management system" (PiMS) of the hospital. All registered falls of all hospitalized patients were included in the study.

Results

During the 6-year study period an incidence of 4.4 falls per 1,000 patient days was found. Only 0.5% of the falls resulted in severe injury and none of these falls were fatal. Eighty percent of falls involved a patient over the age of 65. Only 25.0% of the elderly patients suffered physical consequences, while injuries were present in 31.4% of adults and 68.2% of young patients. The two most common causes of a fall were the health status (63.3%) and the behavior (55.1%) of the patient.

Conclusion

The estimated prevalence of falls in our study was generally in line with the rates found in literature on falls in psychiatric settings. Falls in psychiatric settings occur both in younger and older patients, suggesting that all age categories deserve sufficient attention in fall prevention policies. However, more research is necessary to improve fall prevention policies.

Análise das ocorrências de quedas associadas ao dano em unidade de internação psiquiátrica

Objetivo: analisar as ocorrências de quedas associadas ao dano em pacientes internados em uma unidade psiquiátrica. Método: estudo ecológico retrospectivo de 92 notificações de quedas em unidade de internação psiquiátrica. A coleta dos dados foram pelo sistema eletrônico GEO (Gestão Estratégica Operacional) do hospital estudado e do prontuário, sendo realizada estatística descritiva e testes não-paramétricos. Resultados: quanto ao grau de dano, 39,1% das quedas foram leves e 29,1% moderadas a graves, principalmente, em pacientes com Esquizofrenia e Transtorno Bipolar. As variáveis diagnóstico do paciente, tipo de queda, turno do evento, local da queda e eletroconvulsoterapia não mostraram associação com o grau de dano apresentado pelos pacientes após o evento. Conclusão: com o estudo, foi possível identificar as particularidades que afetam o paciente psiquiátrico e prever as condições mais prevalentes para o evento quedas, de modo a servir de subsídio para a instalação de medidas preventivas durante a internação. 

Patient Falls and Injuries in U.S. Psychiatric Care: Incidence and Trends

OBJECTIVE

The goal of this study was to estimate the incidence of falls (total, injurious, and assisted) in U.S. psychiatric care across 6 years (April 2013-March 2019).

METHODS

Data on falls among patients of adult and geriatric psychiatric units of general, acute care, and psychiatric hospital inpatient units from the National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators were used for this 6-year study. Total falls, assisted falls (i.e., falls broken or slowed by staff), and injurious falls were calculated, along with trends in total and injurious fall rates.

RESULTS

The sample included 1,159 units in 720 hospitals. Of the 119,246 falls reported, 25,807 (21.6%) resulted in injury. Only 7.0% of the total falls in psychiatric units were assisted by a staff member. Falling unassisted was associated with a higher likelihood of fall-related injury (adjusted odds ratio=1.69, 95% confidence interval=1.59 to 1.80). The total fall rate (8.55 per 1,000 patient-days) and injurious fall rate (1.97 per 1,000 patient-days) were highest for geriatric psychiatric units in general hospitals. Total and injurious fall rates in psychiatric units in general hospitals declined during the study (total fall rate declined by 10% for adult psychiatric units in general hospitals). There was no clear trend in total or injurious fall rates for units in psychiatric hospitals.

CONCLUSIONS

Falls are a persistent problem in psychiatric care settings. Few fall-prevention programs have been tested in these settings, which have unique risk factors for falls. Additional research is needed to develop fall-prevention interventions in psychiatric care.

Worldwide prevalence of falls in older adults with psychiatric disorders: A meta-analysis of observational studies

Falls are common in older adults with psychiatric disorders, but the epidemiological findings have been inconsistent. This meta-analysis examined the prevalence of falls in older psychiatric patients and its moderating factors. PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science and PsycINFO databases were independently searched by three investigators from their inception date to Nov 31, 2017. The random effects meta-analysis was used to synthesize the prevalence of falls, while meta-regression and subgroup analyses were conducted to explore the moderating factors. Sixteen of the 2061 potentially relevant papers met the entry criteria for the meta-analysis. The pooled lifetime prevalence of falls was 17.25% (95% confidence interval: 13.14%-21.35%). Neither univariate and nor multivariate meta-regression analyses revealed any moderating effects of the study region, duration, sample size, and quality on the prevalence of falls (P values > 0.05). Falls in older adults with psychiatric disorders are common.