Assessing and Preventing Patient Falls

• Overview

Falls are a leading cause of extended hospital stays, poor patient outcomes, and high cost of health care. Falls are also highly preventable. This program will cover informative topics related to patient falls that are useful to administrators, educators, doctors, nurses and nursing assistants alike. Multiple recent studies that have been conducted regarding falls will be reviewed. The purpose of this OnDemand Webinar will be to assist you in the hospital setting, long-term care, home care, and rehabilitation in assessing the risk for falls of your patients and then describe methods of successful fall prevention.

Learning Objectives:

• You will be able to identify key data regarding fall incidence and mortality.
• You will be able to discuss factors related to patient falls.
• You will be able to identify resources to assist in identifying patients at risk for falls.
• You will be able to describe various fall prevention methods.

Authors

Marlene F. Kellner, MS, RN, Registered Professional Nurse
Marie O’Brien, RN, MSN, ANP-C, CCRN, Registered Professional Nurse

Agenda

Discuss Relevant Data on Falls

• Background

• Epidemiology

• Cost

• Incidence

• Mortality

Explore Resources Regarding Falls

• Governmental Agencies in the U.S.

• Global Governmental Agencies

• Useful Checklists

• Other Useful Tools

Explain Methods of Assessing Risk for Falls

• Evidence Based Fall Risk Assessments

• Morse Falls Scale

• The Hendrich II Fall Risk Model

• Fall Risk Assessment Tool (FRAT)

• Post Falls Assessment

Discuss Factors Which Are Related to Patient Falls

• Polypharmacy

• Environmental Risk

• Medical Conditions

Explain Methods of Preventing Falls in Varied Settings

• Hospital Prevention

• Long Term Care Prevention

• Home Prevention

• Community Prevention