Original Research Article
Year: 2019 | Month: December | Volume: 6 | Issue: 12 | Pages: 595-604
Patient Falls In a Multispecialty Tertiary Care Hospital in Kolkata: A Discussion on the Risk Factors and the Fall Reduction Strategies
Manasij Mitra1, Maitraye Basu2, Akash Karmakar3, Ritwick Saha4, Santanu Panda5
1Associate Professor, Department of Anesthesiology, MGM Medical College and LSK Hospital, Kishanganj.
2Deputy General Manager, 3Senior Executive, 4Senior Executive, 5Manager,
Quality Assurance, Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals, Kolkata.
Corresponding Author: Maitraye Basu
ABSTRACT
Background: Patient falls in hospital settings are one of the most common causes of accidental injuries.
Epidemiologic studies show that falls occur at a rate of 3–5 per 1,000 occupied bed-days. Fall related injuries pose an under burden on the healthcare utilization. However, there is a scarcity of data on falls in hospital settings in India. With this objective the current study was undertaken. The study also aimed to see the effect of the interventions done starting from June 2018 aimed towards intensifying the implementation of the Fall Prevention Program already existing in the hospital
Materials and Methodology: An observational retrospective study was conducted in a 700 bed multispecialty tertiary care hospital in Kolkata. A total of 96 patient falls were reported during the period from January 2017 to November 2019 which were considered in the study. Data for this study was entered into a computer based spreadsheet for analysis using SPSS (version 21) (IBM Corp., NY, USA). The statistical tests applied included descriptive statistics and chi-square tests for testing the association if any. P value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant.
Results: We saw a sharp decline in the average fall rate from 0.18 per 1,000 occupied bed-days from January 2017 to May 2018 to 0.10 per 1,000 occupied bed-days from June 2018 to November 2019 which is a 44.44% decrease in the fall rate.
We did not find any association between sex and the fall rate in our study (p value 0.574). However, we found statistically significant associations between age and the fall rate with patients in the age group of <16 years or ≥ 65 years sustaining more fall than others(p value 0.046), mobility status of the patient at the time of sustaining fall with immobile patients sustaining more falls than mobile patients (p value 0.011) and presence or absence of attendant at the time of sustaining the fall with patients without attendants sustaining more falls than patients with attendants (p value 0.020).
Discussion: The findings were in consonance with many studies.
Conclusion: Patients may continue to fall and sustain injuries during their hospitalization despite a comprehensive fall prevention program in place. The role of a nursing staff trained in the hospital fall prevention strategies in preventing patient fall can in no way be demeaned. However, the importance of a collaborative multipronged approach and empowering patients and families to become partners in the fall reduction program in a hospital setting is also of paramount importance.
Key words: Patient falls; Fall Prevention Program; Fall-related injuries
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