Help with research on patient fall reporting

In 1995, the American Nurses Association (ANA) Board of Directors commissioned the development of nursing quality indicators that link nursing care and patient outcomes. Patient injury rate, noted to be most often caused by falls, was promoted as a nurse sensitive indicator, a measure of quality that links patient outcomes with availability and quality of professional nursing services (ANA, 1995). The ANA asserted nurses' responsibility to assess patients' risk for falls and injury, design and implement risk reduction care plans, and evaluate effectiveness of clinical fall prevention programs. ANA also recommended consistency of data reporting, measurement and analysis.

Because of these efforts, by the next decade, valid and reliable fall risk assessment tools and standardized post fall analysis and rates are available for use in nursing practice. Adoption of the ANA recommendations encourages organizations to analyze effectiveness of fall prevention programs that are unit-specific and population-based. The recommendations suggest that clinical, administrative and risk management staff conduct in depth data analysis and provide unit-specific feedback to staff regarding fall rates and fall related injury rates. Following these practices has resulted in the emergence of best practices for patient safety related to reduced falls and fall-related injuries, as showcased in this article’s exemplars. These exemplars describe actual fall programs across settings, along with strategies to showcase data at the unit level and compare fall program outcomes over time.