Hospital falls clinical practice guidelines: a global analysis and systematic review

BACKGROUND

Hospital falls continue to be a persistent global issue with serious harmful consequences for patients and health services. Many clinical practice guidelines now exist for hospital falls, and there is a need to appraise recommendations.

METHOD

A systematic review and critical appraisal of the global literature was conducted, compliant with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. Web of Science, Embase, CINAHL, MEDLINE, Epistemonikos, Infobase of Clinical Practice Guidelines, Cochrane CENTRAL and PEDro databases were searched from 1 January 1993 to 1 February 2024. The quality of guidelines was assessed by two independent reviewers using Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation Global Rating Scale and Appraisal of Guidelines of Research and Evaluation Recommendation Excellence (AGREE-REX). Certainty of findings was rated using Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation Confidence in Evidence from Reviews of Qualitative Research. Data were analysed using thematic synthesis.

RESULTS

2404 records were screened, 77 assessed for eligibility, and 20 hospital falls guidelines were included. Ten had high AGREE-REX quality scores. Key analytic themes were as follows: (i) there was mixed support for falls risk screening at hospital admission, but scored screening tools were no longer recommended; (ii) comprehensive falls assessment was recommended for older or frail patients; (iii) single and multifactorial falls interventions were consistently recommended; (iv) a large gap existed in patient engagement in guideline development and implementation; (v) barriers to implementation included ambiguities in how staff and patient falls education should be conducted, how delirium and dementia are managed to prevent falls, and documentation of hospital falls.

CONCLUSION

Evidence-based hospital falls guidelines are now available, yet systematic implementation across the hospital sector is more limited. There is a need to ensure an integrated and consistent approach to evidence-based falls prevention for a diverse range of hospital patients.

Fall prevention in hospitalized patients: Evaluation through the nursing outcomes classification/NOC

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the nursing outcomes of hospitalized patients at high risk for falls through NOC and correlate NOC outcomes called Knowledge: Fall Prevention and Fall Prevention Behavior with patients' sociodemographic and clinical variables.

BACKGROUND

Falls represent one of the major safety incidents in the hospital setting. The role of nursing is fundamental in preventing these events, from risk assessment to outcome evaluation. One of the strategies for evaluating nursing outcomes is the use of Nursing Outcomes Classification (NOC).

METHODS

A cross-sectional study conducted with a sample of 68 adult patients at high risk for falls admitted to clinical and surgical units. The patients received three evaluations. Data collect was prospective with an instrument containing five results and 28 NOC indicators. Descriptive and analytical analysis considered the NOC 5-point Likert scale.

RESULTS

Evaluation of the Knowledge: Fall Prevention and Fall Prevention Behavior outcomes showed that patients have a limited level of knowledge and rarely demonstrated preventive behavior. Vital Signs (0802), Medication Response (2301) and Safe Health Care Environment (1934) pointed to the existence of adequate patient monitoring and safe environment.

CONCLUSION

The evaluation of patient outcomes supported by a standardized classification system such as the NOC highlights the patient's clinical evolution and produces data that support the planning of care and management interventions, providing more effective and safer practices.

Conceptual definitions of indicators for the nursing outcome "Knowledge: Fall Prevention"

ABSTRACT Objective: to construct conceptual definitions for indicators of nursing outcome Knowledge: Fall Prevention, selected for evaluation of hospitalized patients with the nursing diagnosis Risk for falls. Method: integrative literature review performed in the LILACS, MEDLINE and Web of Science databases, comprising articles published in English, Spanish and Portuguese languages from 2005 to 2015. Results: the final sample of the study was composed of 17 articles. The conceptualizations were constructed for 14 indicators of nursing outcome Knowledge: Fall Prevention focused on hospitalized patients. Conclusion: the theoretical support of the Nursing Outcomes Classification (NOC), through the process of constructing the conceptual definitions of the indicators of its results, allows nurses to accurately implement this classification in clinical practice and to evaluate the effectiveness of their interventions through the change of the patients' status over time.

Emergency department management of falls in the elderly: A clinical audit and suggestions for improvement

INTRODUCTION

Falls are a major source of injury in the elderly and their incomplete management is a cause for concern by health systems. The present study looks at the current state of managing fall victims in Iran and offers suggestions for improvement.

METHODS

This was a clinical care audit comparing the state of current care with an institutionally approved optimum. Patients aged 60 years and over presenting with a fall were evaluated and deficiencies in their care were recorded and categorized. These were presented to an expert panel, where the Delphi method was used to come up with a list of actions to address the deficiencies. Furthermore an educational program was implemented based on these suggestions. Chi-squared and t-test were used to evaluate the efficacy of this program in improving treatment. Linear regression analysis was used to find factors affecting care.

RESULTS

Overall 431 cases were reviewed. The most common errors during clinical examination were: not performing Romberg test (92.75%) and lack of physiotherapy consultation (82.75%). The educational program had a modest effect on improving the clinical audit processes (β = 3.79; P < 0.001) and medical interventions (β = 2.004; P = 0.002); however, performing the correct diagnostic tests was worse after the program (β = -1.21; P = 0.008).

CONCLUSION

There is a wide gap between the care services delivered in the management of falls and international standards. Therefore, measures should be adopted to close this gap. Education may have a modest positive effect in this regard.