One of the common causes of falls in hospitals occurs during toilet transfers. The patient's need to toilet and can not wait for staff assistance. At the facility where I work, there is a collaborative staff hourly rounding that means that at least one member of the support staff must check on the patient at least once per hour and document the "rounding." Additionally, the facility has adopted a "no pass zone" meaning if the call light is on outside the door any staff member (clinical or not) that is near the door is to walk in and see what the patient's needs are. These have helped decrease the fall rates related to unsafe and unassisted transfers to the toilet.

WOODARD J. (2009) Effects of Rounding on Patient Satisfaction and Patient Safety on a Medical-Surgical Unit. Clinical Nurse Specialist; July/August 2009 - Volume 23 - Issue 4 - pp 200-206

Dear Eric, Thank you very much for this suggestion.

Dear Silvia:

I recommend this article: "Fall Prevention in Acute Care Hospitals"

A randomized trial.

Patricia C. Dykes, RN, DNSc, Diane L. Carroll, RN, PhD, BC, Ann Hurley, RN, DNSc, Stuart Lipsitz, ScD, Angela Beniot, B Comm, Frank Chang; MSE, Seth Meltzer, Ruslana Tsurikova, MSc, MA, Lyubov Zuyov, MA and Blackford Middleton, MD, MPH, MSc.

Jama. 2010 November 3; 304 (17): 1912-1918.

The FPTK (Fall Prevention Tool Kit) was found to be particularly effective with patients aged 65 years or older.

Sincerely.

Diana from Perú.

The paper recommended by Diana is very useful indeed. I recommend it too.

Dear Panayot:

Thank you.

Best wishes.

Diana from Perú.