Is it possible to identify risks for injurious falls in hospitalized patients?
Mion LC, Chandler M, Waters TM, et al. Is it possible to identify risks for injurious falls in hospitalized patients? Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf. 2012;38(9):408-13.
Despite limited evidence that hospital fall prevention programs can decrease them, patient falls have been deemed a preventable complication that will not receive additional reimbursement from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Since only about 1 in 10 falls result in injury, some argue that rather than trying to prevent all falls, a better approach would be to try to prevent injuries from falls. However, this retrospective study was unable to pinpoint variables that identified patients likely to sustain an injury from a hospital fall. An AHRQ WebM&M perspective discusses challenges in and key strategies for preventing falls.