Hospital-acquired complications – Falls
Falls account for over 80 per cent of all injury-related hospital admissions for people aged 65 years and older. They can occur at any age, but the frequency and severity of falls-related injuries increases significantly with age and frailty.
Falls are one of the most frequently reported clinical incidents in hospitals worldwide and are associated with increased:
- longer hospital stays
- increased care and use of health resources
- higher discharge rates to a nursing home or residential care facility.
How do we define a fall?
The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines a fall as an event which results in a person coming to rest accidentally on the ground, floor or other lower level. This definition covers all types of falls-related clinical incidents, including:
- near-misses
- intercepted falls where the patient is lowered to the ground
- suspected/unwitnessed slips/trips/falls
- witnessed slips/trips/falls.
Fall-related injury is one of the leading causes of hospital-acquired morbidity and mortality in older Australians, and leads to pain, bruising, lacerations and fractures.
Falls can also lead to intracranial bleeding, which can cause confusion, drowsiness, clouding, loss of consciousness and headache.
We use the common practice of measuring fall rates (resulting in fracture or intracranial injury) per 1,000 patient days.
How do we measure up
The graph below shows the combined rate of reported falls incidents across the EMHS hospitals.
Chart: Rate of falls in hospital resulting in fracture or intracranial injury.
- Armadale Health Service
- Kalamunda Hospital
- Bentley Hospital
- Royal Perth Hospital
- St John of God Midland Public Hospital
Chart: Rate of falls in hospital resulting in fracture or intracranial injury.
What the figures mean
The desired benchmark is less than or equal to 0.138 falls in hospital resulting in fracture or intracranial injury per 1,000 patient days. EMHS constantly strives to reduce the rate of hospital-acquired complications associated with falls, through the implementation of prevention strategies.