Inpatient Falls in Hospital Taiping from 2016 to 2019

Introduction Falls are among the most common yet most often preventable, adverse events involving the patient. Falls are commonly defined as “an event which results in a person coming to rest inadvertently on the ground or floor or other level”. It occurs in hospitals worldwide and incur more cost. The incidence of falls in the world varies depending on the studied population.

Study Aim To find out the trend of inpatient falls in Hospital Taiping and the factors that lead to it.

Methodology A cross sectional study. All inpatient falls cases reported to Quality Unit, Hospital Taiping using Patient Safety Incident Reporting form. From 1st January 2016 to 31st December 2019. Excluded falls in Paediatric Ward.

Results [Refer to Poster].

Discussion and Conclusion Inpatient falls in Hospital Taiping is in keeping with other studies.1-6 Falls in hospitals are financially expensive, as they increase the length of stay and may lead to increased care costs upon discharge. The quality of the reporting for inpatient falls needs to improve as well. We noted that Morse Fall Score were repoted only on 20% of the cases with 14.3% were tagged as high risk. There is also a need to study on the extrinsic factors contributing to the problem especially on the environmental aspects such as lighting, noice and setting of the ward. These finding can assist in planning for falls prevention and management strategies in future.