Abstract
Introduction:
The ageing population, incidence of falls and the impact of falls on individuals and health care facilities make falls/fall related injury a substantial problem in Australian health care facilities (hospitals and residential aged care facilities). Recognising these issues, the Australian Council for Safety and Quality in Health Care in association with QH are undertaking to develop a national/consistent approach to reducing the harm from falls in Australian health care facilities through the production of nationally endorsed best practice falls prevention guidelines and support materials; as well as the development of recommendations regarding accreditation and standardising falls incident monitoring processes.
Aims:
To describe progress to date by this important initiative and outline best practice approaches to preventing harm from falls in older people.
Method: The development of a national/consistent approach is based on previous work by QH and is informed by the latest literature, expert opinion and feedback received from national consultation.
Findings:
Identification of: levels of evidence of falls prevention interventions, what needs to be done to prevent falls; and barriers to the implementation of falls prevention strategies. A kit of support resources has been published to support the implementation of falls prevention strategies in Australian health care facilities.
Conclusions:
Best practice in reducing harm from falls in hospitals and racf's involves all staff having a role to play, is based on the latest evidence, as well as key stakeholder knowledge of what works and how to make it work.
The ageing population, incidence of falls and the impact of falls on individuals and health care facilities make falls/fall related injury a substantial problem in Australian health care facilities (hospitals and residential aged care facilities). Recognising these issues, the Australian Council for Safety and Quality in Health Care in association with QH are undertaking to develop a national/consistent approach to reducing the harm from falls in Australian health care facilities through the production of nationally endorsed best practice falls prevention guidelines and support materials; as well as the development of recommendations regarding accreditation and standardising falls incident monitoring processes.
Aims:
To describe progress to date by this important initiative and outline best practice approaches to preventing harm from falls in older people.
Method: The development of a national/consistent approach is based on previous work by QH and is informed by the latest literature, expert opinion and feedback received from national consultation.
Findings:
Identification of: levels of evidence of falls prevention interventions, what needs to be done to prevent falls; and barriers to the implementation of falls prevention strategies. A kit of support resources has been published to support the implementation of falls prevention strategies in Australian health care facilities.
Conclusions:
Best practice in reducing harm from falls in hospitals and racf's involves all staff having a role to play, is based on the latest evidence, as well as key stakeholder knowledge of what works and how to make it work.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | A53-A54 |
| Number of pages | 1 |
| Journal | Australasian Journal on Ageing |
| Volume | 24 |
| Issue number | Supplement 2 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 21 Nov 2005 |
| Externally published | Yes |
| Event | 38th National Conference of the Australian Association of Gerontology - Gold Coast, Australia Duration: 9 Nov 2005 → 11 Nov 2005 |