Evidence and practice

Strategies used by nurse leaders to support the delivery of falls prevention practices in hospitals

Natasha Alvarado Senior research fellow, Faculty of Health Studies, University of Bradford, Bradford, England

Lynn McVey Honorary research fellow, Faculty of Health Studies, University of Bradford, Bradford, England

Nick Hardiker Professor, School of Human and Health Sciences, University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield, England

Hadar Zaman Senior lecturer, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Bradford, Bradford, England

Dawn Dowding Professor, School of Health Sciences, The University of Manchester, Manchester, England

Peter Gardner Professor, School of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences, University of Bradford, Bradford, England

Frances Healey Visiting professor, University of Leeds, Leeds, England

Rebecca Randell Professor, Faculty of Health Studies, University of Bradford, Bradford, England

Why you should read this article:

• To acknowledge the importance of using multifactorial falls risk assessment and multidomain, personalised interventions to reduce falls risks in hospitals
• To read about strategies used by nurse leaders to support delivery of falls prevention practices in hospitals
• To recognise the actions required to support nurse leaders to deliver multifactorial falls prevention practices in hospitals

Despite prevention efforts, falls in hospital are a common and ongoing safety concern, with older people more likely to fall and experience harm as a result of falls. Clinical guidelines recommend multifactorial falls risk assessment and multidomain, personalised interventions to reduce falls risks in hospitals. This article reflects on findings from a multi-site study on the implementation of multifactorial falls prevention practices that informed the development of actionable guidance. The discussion focuses on strategies used by nurse leaders, at different levels of seniority, that shaped practice on orthopaedic and older person wards. While falls risk assessment documentation was monitored routinely by senior leaders, in practice falls prevention often relied on risk screening and enhanced patient supervision. Findings suggest that nurses need to be empowered to lead practices that modify and mitigate individual falls risks where possible, with greater multidisciplinary and patient and carer involvement.

Nursing Older People. doi: 10.7748/nop.2024.e1478

Peer review

This article has been subject to external double-blind peer review and checked for plagiarism using automated software

@HCIforHealthIT

Correspondence

n.alvarado@bradford.ac.uk

Conflict of interest

None declared

Alvarado N, McVey L, Hardiker N et al (2024) Strategies used by nurse leaders to support the delivery of falls prevention practices in hospitals. Nursing Older People. doi: 10.7748/nop.2024.e1478

Published online: 21 August 2024

Keywords :

falls - leadership - management - older people - patient safety - patients - professional - risk assessment - risk factors - risk management

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30 September 2024 / Vol 36 issue 5

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DIGITAL EDITION