Patient falls in the operating room setting: an analysis of reported safety events.
Tan J, Krishnan S, Vacanti JC, et al. Patient falls in the operating room setting: an analysis of reported safety events. J Healthc Risk Manag. 2022;42(1):9-14. doi:10.1002/jhrm.21503.
Inpatient falls are a common patient safety event and can have serious consequences. This study used hospital safety reporting system data to characterize falls in perioperative settings. Falls represented 1% of all safety reports between 2014 and 2020 and most commonly involved falls from a bed or stretcher. The author suggests strategies to identify patients at high risk for falls, improve fall-related training for healthcare personnel, and optimize equipment design in perioperative areas to prevent falls.