Effect of a fall prevention strategy for the older patients: A quasi-experimental study.
Xiaobei Guo, Ying Wang, Lei Wang and 4 others
PMID 36178024WHAT IT FOUND
Older inpatients who helped assess fall risks and choose prevention steps had no falls during hospital stay, while three falls occurred in routine care.
They also scored higher on fall prevention knowledge, attitude, practice, and confidence.
Key findings
01A total of three falls occurred in the control group, while no falls occurred in the intervention group.
02After the intervention, the patient-engagement group had higher fall-prevention knowledge, attitude, and practice scores than the routine-care group, with p < .01.
03After the intervention, the modified fall efficacy score was higher in the patient-engagement group (64.34 ± 6.27) than in the routine-care group (61.07 ± 7.55; p < .05).
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Patients were not randomly assigned to the intervention or control groups, so ward-level or patient-level differences may explain the results. The study was single-center in one Chinese teaching hospital, with relatively limited study time and sample size, so it may not represent other settings. The fall outcome was based on a very small number of events: three falls in the control group and no falls in the intervention group. The intervention was a bundle of many components, including videos, tablets, self-assessment, plan sheets, manuals, reminders, peer sharing, role play, supervision, and electronic support, so the contribution of any single component cannot be separated. The paper does not explicitly name the primary outcome, making it harder to know whether falls, KAP, or MFES was the main endpoint.
Declared interests
The authors declare no conflict of interest. The study was supported in part by grants from the 2020 Nursing Management Research Fund Project and the Independent Innovation Research Fund of the Huazhong University of Science and Technology.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the no-fall result in the intervention group as proof that this patient-engagement package prevents falls. Patients were not randomized, the study was single-center and small, and the intervention combined many components, so the contribution of any single component cannot be separated.