Falls are a prevalent safety concern in hospitals. At LBJ Hospital, the Express Admission (EA) Unit and the Observation Unit created a fall prevention video to raise awareness, enhance patient experience and prevent falls among its patients.
For their idea, the team was named LBJ’s Innovation Winner at Harris Health’s Fifth Annual Innovation Summit.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 700,000 to 1 million people in the U.S. fall in hospitals each year.
Three years ago, a fall was a rarity in the units. However, as the team saw an increase in their census and a change in their patient acuity, they unfortunately saw an uptick in patient falls.
“Falls can lead to serious health issues,” says Carolyn Gafford, director, Nursing. “That’s why fall prevention is key. Our team identified challenges with our patient falls. Even though we had measures in place and were constantly monitoring our patients, we wanted to add another layer of protection.”
The team decided to make a video to explain fall prevention measures to patients.
The staff featured in the bilingual “Call, Don’t Fall” video describe each precaution taken to ensure patient safety—including the nurse call button, bed alarms (which go off when a patient gets up), grip socks, fall precaution arm band, fall risk sign and more.
Once the video was complete, the team collaborated with the Information Technology Department to upload it to their portable workstation on wheels (WOW).
Now, anytime a patient is admitted to either unit, the nurse discusses fall prevention and plays the video on the WOW.
“We wanted to include staff in the video—that way when patients see the video, they see the nurses who are caring for them,” Gafford says.
Since the video was piloted, there have been no cases of patient falls. The video now serves as Harris Health’s best practice to prevent falls and promote patient safety.