upon the information obtained from employees who were involved with the fall. Typically this is obtained through unusual occurrence reports. Data should be obtained on every fall that occurs within the organization. Utilizing the data to obtained trends or patterns will help to further engage discovery on contributing factors within the organization.
Three rates are reported:
- Total Falls per 1,000 Patient Days
- Injury Falls per 1,000 Patient Days
- Unassisted Falls per 1,000 Patient Days
Numerator = # of falls for the reporting period * 1,000
Denominator = # of patient days for the reporting period
Three similar rates are reported for ambulatory units:
- Total Falls per 1,000 Patient Visits
- Injury Falls per 1,000 Patient Visits
- Unassisted Falls per 1,000 Patient Visits
Numerator = # of falls for the reporting period * 1,000
Denominator = # of visits by patients for the reporting period
National benchmarks:
Learn more about ongoing data collection initiatives.
Appendix A