Patient education to prevent falls among older hospital inpatients: a randomized controlled trial.
Efforts to prevent falls among hospitalized patients have been limited by a lack of evidence-based preventive strategies. In this study conducted at two Australian hospitals, cognitively intact patients who received a multimodal fall prevention intervention (written and video-based educational materials on falls and physical therapist follow-up) were significantly less likely to fall during hospitalization. The fall prevention evidence base was also augmented by a recent study that used an individualized fall prevention strategy to sharply reduce falls in geriatric inpatients. A case of recurrent falls is discussed in an AHRQ WebM&M commentary.