Fall TIPS: Strategies to Promote Adoption and Use of a Fall Prevention Toolkit

Posted Le 6 décembre 2017

There are many factors in the hospital environment that may put a patient at risk for a fall – unfamiliar environment, medications, and serious illness – to name a few. In the article, Fall TIPS: Strategies to Promote Adoption and Use of a Fall Prevention Toolkit  from 2009, the ‘experimental’ strategies suggested may be pertinent to fall prevention interventions currently being used in hospital settings. This article examines an evidence-practice based, computer software generated toolkit that uses existing procedures and workflows, such as assessments and signage, to produce a patient centered, individual fall prevention strategy. Knowledge of the patient, as well as results from various fall prevention assessments, are plugged into the Fall TIPS software. The result is a three-pronged fall prevention tool – bedside signage, individual care plan and educational handout for the patient and family.

Fall TIPS aims to establish evidence based linkages between routine nursing fall risk assessment, and structured communication and tailored interventions to prevent patient falls in acute care hospitals. Variable communication was identified as a major barrier to the collaboration and teamwork that participants said was needed to prevent patient falls.

In comparison, the more recent Registered Nurses Association of Ontario (RNAO) Fall Prevention Best Practice Guidelines  were published in September 2017. These guidelines were revised following a lengthy and stringent process of literature reviews, input from an expert panel and stakeholders. While the guidelines also include community and long-term care, there are universal precautions for all settings, including the hospital. The RNAO Best Practice Guidelines include updated information for assessments, individualized care plans and family involvement. There is further information on the value of early activation and mobility.

Do you agree that improved communication mechanisms in hospital can improve fall prevention? Does your hospital have a standardized approach to fall prevention that target communication across disciplines? Let us know and let’s continue the conversation.

Articles of interest for further reading:
Keuter KR, Berg GM, Hervey AM, Rogers N. Usability testing of a fall prevention toolkit. JAAPA. 2015 May;28(5):46-53. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25909542

Zuyev L, Benoit AN, Chang FY, Dykes PC. Tailored prevention of inpatient falls: development and usability testing of the fall TIPS toolkit. Comput Inform Nurs. 2011 Feb;29(2 Suppl):TC21-8. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3085915/

Fisher S. The development of a falls prevention and management toolkit for hospices. Int J Palliat Nurs. 2013 May;19(5):244-9. http://www.magonlinelibrary.com/doi/pdf/10.12968/ijpn.2013.19.5.244