Accidents from falls among hospitalized patients in Emergency Units: a multicenter study.
Bárbara Cristina Dias Giaquinto, Cristiana Mattos Camargos Oliveira, Camila Cardoso de Araújo Costa and 3 others
PMID 41919812WHAT IT FOUND
Most emergency-unit falls happened from stretchers (68.2%), and admission fall-risk assessment was documented in only 42.7% of records.
Among documented harm categories, 50.0% had no harm, but 5.6% died. Nurses should treat older, confused, agitated patients on stretchers as high risk.
Key findings
01The study analysed 89 medical records of adult patients who fell in emergency units; 68.2% of falls were from stretchers.
02Fall risk assessment was documented at admission in 42.7% of records; among documented harm categories, 50.0% had no harm, 31.5% mild harm, 11.8% moderate harm, and 5.6% death.
03Patients with fall-related complications were 20 times more likely to have harm requiring intervention, while female patients were 6.25 times less likely.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Falls were identified only from reports made to Patient Safety Centers. Unreported falls were missed. Some records lacked documentation of fall type, time, harm degree, or admission fall-risk assessment. This caused data loss. There were no validated instruments for assessing fall occurrence in emergency departments. This limited more robust statistical analysis. Underreporting restricted the sample and the generalizability of the results.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the 20 times more likely association as proof that preventing complications reduces harm; this was a record review of patients who already fell, not a controlled comparison.