Top picks: Ten fall prevention resources

Summary

At Patient Safety Learning we believe that sharing insights and learning is vital to improving outcomes and reducing harm. That's why we created the hub; providing a space for people to come together and share their experiences, resources and good practice examples. 

In this Top picks, we’ve pulled together tools, quality improvement projects, blogs and reports shared on the hub to help reduce and prevent falls in healthcare settings.

Content

1 Insights from a reducing falls project at the University Hospital Southampton

Karen Male, ward leader at the University Hospital Southampton, shares how she reduced falls on her ward. 

2 How an AI technology cut falls by 84% for Hartland House care home

A recent collaboration between Hartland House care home and NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB) has shown remarkable success in reducing falls by 84%, supporting the NHS by alleviating unnecessary pressures and empowering care teams through cutting-edge AI technology. Through a six-month pilot project with Nobi’s Smart Lamps, this innovative approach is making strides in fall prevention, fall detection, and overall resident safety, enhancing the quality of life for both residents and care staff at Hartland House.

3 NAIF session: Falls prevention project in Herts Bedded Units, Potters Bar Community Hospital

Watch the National Audit of Inpatient Falls' (NAIF) first engagement session presented by NAIF clinical fellow and Physiotherapy Lead at Potters Bar Community Hospital, Sarah Pryor, who shared her ward’s quality improvement project for falls prevention, supported by NAIF clinical lead Dr Julie Whitney.

4 Yellow kits - an innovation to reduce the risk of falls in Accident and Emergency departments

In this blog, Jayne Flood, Falls Prevention Practitioner at East Kent Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, describes how her team introduced ‘yellow kits’ to assist patients at high risk of falls in A&E, and evaluated their impact.

5 Don’t stop moving: Optimising safety while staying active in hospital. The 2024 National Audit of Inpatient Falls (NAIF) report on 2023

This report looks at clinical data on falls collected in 2023. Based on 1,609 cases, it states that falls prevention activity should not focus solely on older people’s wards, finding that nearly half of all inpatient femoral fractures (IFFs) occur on general medical wards. To address the potential for harm caused by hospital-acquired deconditioning, this report presents a new approach to risk factor assessment that focuses on promoting activity to ensure each patient is fit to move as safely as possible. This covers factors such as vision, medication review, delirium, mobility and continence.

6 Pay attention to falls prevention infographic

This infographic by artist Sonia Sparkles highlights ways to prevent patient falls in hospital.

7 Reducing falls in dementia inpatients using vision-based technology

Falls have a significant negative impact on the health and well-being of people with dementia and increase service costs related to staff time, paramedic visits, and accident and emergency (A&E) admissions. This study examined whether a remote digital vision-based monitoring and management system had an impact on the prevention of falls.

8 Preventing falls in people with learning disabilities

This guide contains information to help staff in public health, health services and social care to prevent falls in people with learning disabilities. It is also intended to help falls prevention services to provide support that is accessible to people with learning disabilities. The guide aims to be of use to family carers, friends and paid support staff to help them think about what risks may contribute to falls and how to reduce such risks.

9 Preventing falls in hospital: An interactive elearning resource aimed at reducing inpatient falls

This eLearning course is designed to help healthcare workers prevent patient falls in hospital. There are two modules available: Module 1 is aimed at hospital-based nurses; Module 2 is aimed at foundation level doctors and includes interactive information about patient and environmental falls risk factors, the patient assessment and post fall management.

10 AHRQ Fall TIPS: A patient-centered fall prevention toolkit

This toolkit, developed through an AHRQ Patient Safety Learning Lab, consists of a formal risk assessment and tailored plan of care for each patient. The toolkit has reduced falls by 25% in acute care hospitals and is used in more than 100 hospitals in the United States and internationally.

Share your fall prevention resources and projects

If you have insights, tools or knowledge to share relating to fall prevention why not comment below (you will need to be a member of the hub and sign in) or get in touch with us at [email protected]. At Patient Safety Learning we are always keen to share good practice, challenges and training resources that could help support safe care more widely.