Use of INQRI Team's Fall Prevention Tool Kit Reduces Rate of Falls

Yesterday, INQRI researcher Patricia C. Dykes, R.N., D.N.Sc. (Partners HealthCare System, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston) presented on "How to Reduce the Risk of Falls for Older Patients in Hospitals" at the National Press Club as part of a Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Theme Issue Media Briefing on Aging.  Dykes and her team were published in today's edition of JAMA with their paper, "Fall Prevention in Acute Care Hospitals: A Randomized Trial."

The team's INQRI project addressed gaps in knowledge by establishing linkages between nursing fall risk assessment, risk communication and tailored interventions to prevent falls. The goal of this study was to prevent patient falls by translating an individual patient's fall risk assessment into a decision support intervention. This innovative intervention communicates fall risk status and creates a tailored evidence-based plan of care that is accessible to interdisciplinary team members, paraprofessionals, patients and family members.

As noted in the JAMA article, the team found that "the use of a fall prevention tool kit in hospital units compared with usual care significantly reduced rate of falls."

Click here to access the article on JAMA's website.
Click here to read a news article about the study on the e!ScienceNews website.