I am doing a huge project (thesis-level) on patient falls. Despite being decently adept at the internet and having a strange and actual enjoyment of browsing through peer reviewed journals/databases, I have actually not been able to find a SINGLE statistic on the number (or even estimate) of patient falls that have occurred, nationwide, in the USA for either 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, or 2010.
I have tried so many different search terms, data bases, googled and yahoo'd every corner of the internet, tried EBSCOHost, and other countless nursing related peer-reviewed journals and just...have fallen short. All I am getting is studies done at certain hospitals, or things like that. I have browsed so many nursing societies and professional nursing groups websites, including the ANA, and the Texas Branch of the ANA....even the JCAHO site.
Does someone anywhere out there know if there even is a statistic on the actual number of patient falls that happened per year, any year, in the past five years? With the huge safety (and monetary) deal that patient falls are, it seems like there would be a concrete nation wide number saying "this many hospitalized patients in the USA fell in _____."
I am finding things like "amount of damages/costs caused by patient falls," and "deaths caused by patient falls," and those things are helpful but they aren't the general concrete number I really need. It seems like such a simple thing that would or should exist and I am about to pull my hair out with frustration after spending the entire day looking for this number or something close to it from a reputable source. I have used terms such as incidence, prevalence, etc. Please please please help me!
My most sincere thanks and appreciation to anyone who can find this statistic for me.
"A very desperate but hopeful RN with only one class left before I get my BSN."
Have you tried to google "national benchmark patient falls"? Try that and I am going to PM you a link I found..hope this helps!
Round 2-- HEY again, thank you-- I was able to receive the private message with the link but when I clicked on it, it said it was not a valid link. What is the name of the book or article and maybe I can find it? I would PM you back directly but since I am not an upgraded member I can not. Thanks again and I am so grateful for your help and willingness to help me in such a genuine manner!!!!
Specializes in Emergency Nursing, Endoscopy Nursing, me.
No prob but i think my link is broken anyway..the source is google books and the book is called "good practices in preventing patient falls" look on page 51 it mentions the national benchmark but i think it was published in 07...good luck!
Specializes in Emergency Nursing, Endoscopy Nursing, me.
Round 2-- HEY again, thank you-- I was able to receive the private message with the link but when I clicked on it, it said it was not a valid link. What is the name of the book or article and maybe I can find it? I would PM you back directly but since I am not an upgraded member I can not. Thanks again and I am so grateful for your help and willingness to help me in such a genuine manner!!!!
Hey no problem.... yea, the link got posted with an extra http://
have you tried ahrq? agency for healthcare research and quality (ahrq)
based on data from over 600 u.s. hospitals, the hospital survey on patient safety culture: 2009 comparative database report provides initial results that hospitals can use as benchmarks in establishing a culture of safety. in addition, the 2009 report presents results showing change over time for 204 hospitals that submitted data more than once. the report consists of a narrative description of the findings and four appendixes, presenting data by hospital characteristics and respondent characteristics for the database hospitals overall and separately for the 204 trending hospitals
:heartbeat
nursingosaurus
38 Posts
Round 2-- HEY again, thank you-- I was able to receive the private message with the link but when I clicked on it, it said it was not a valid link. What is the name of the book or article and maybe I can find it? I would PM you back directly but since I am not an upgraded member I can not. Thanks again and I am so grateful for your help and willingness to help me in such a genuine manner!!!!