Decreasing Falls in the Emergency Department

Abstract

Decreasing falls in the Emergency Department (ED) is essential to protecting patient safety during the patient’s time in the ED. When a patient falls, it produces adverse effects contributing to poor patient outcomes. A community hospital part of a private, not-for-profit healthcare network in central North Carolina identified a need to decrease falls in the ED. This quality improvement project aimed to decrease falls in the ED through staff compliance in completing the fall risk assessment tool on each patient and providing fall prevention interventions to patients identified as being at high risk for falls. Staff were educated on the importance of using the Memorial Emergency Department Fall Risk Assessment Tool (MEDFRAT) on each patient. Staff were expected to apply nonskid socks, bed alarms, and fall-risk armbands to patients identified as high risk for falling. Weekly audits occurred for twelve weeks during project implementation. There was a decrease in falls during project implementation compared to the same time the year prior. Using a bundled approach with a reliable fall risk assessment tool and multifactorial fall prevention interventions in the project site ED successfully decreased falls, optimizing patient safety and well-being.