HTA of prevention of patient falls at hospitals
People are hospitalised in order to improve their health. It is therefore an important task for the hospital to avoid unintended incidents, such as patient falls. Nevertheless, patient falls are frequent and it often causes serious consequences for the patient.
PROJECT PERIOD
Start: 2009
End: 31 July 2010
AIM
The aim of the Health Technology Assessment (HTA) was to create a sufficient assessment of the prerequisites and consequences of implementing technologies that should help prevent patient falls at hospitals. The inclusion of both screening tools and interventions in the project has meant that is should be able to work as a foundation for developing initiatives to prevent patient falls at the hospitals of the Region of Southern Denmark.
RESULTS
The results showed that all respondents (patients, relatives and health professionals) evaluated the prevention of falls to be a top priority and that the patients were willing to accept various restrictions, probably because the patients thought it is more important to avoid falling than to be restricted during their hospitalisation. There was a disparity between what was considered acceptable for patients (and relatives) compared to the health staff, as the health staff were more inclined towards more restrictive methods. Furthermore, patients reported that they have changed their behaviour after having received patient education in the prevention of falls and that patients, as well as relatives, were involved in the decisions about the use of restrictive methods.
PARTNERS
The Region of Southern Denmark.