Did you know that of the 1.6 million residents in U.S. nursing facilities, approximately half fall annually? (CDC) About 1 in 3 of those who fall will fall two or more times in a year. The CDC also indicates that one in every 10 residents who fall has a serious related injury and about 65,000 patients suffer a hip fracture each year. These statistics emphasize how challenging fall management is for the entire interdisciplinary team, but also, how critical it is to have an effective fall program in place.
Under regulation §483.25(d) Accidents, we find F 689 Free of Accident Hazards/Supervision/Devices. This regulation states “The facility must ensure that the resident environment remains as free of accident hazards as is possible”; and “Each resident receives adequate supervision and assistance devices to prevent accidents”. The intent of this requirement is to ensure the facility provides an environment that is free from accident hazards over which the facility has control, and provides supervision and assistive devices to each resident to prevent avoidable accidents. Facility responsibilities include these key areas:
- Identifying hazard(s) and risk(s);
- Evaluating and analyzing hazard(s) and risk(s);
- Implementing interventions to reduce hazard(s) and risk(s); and
- Monitoring for effectiveness and modifying interventions when necessary.
Take a Step Toward Improving Fall Prevention & Management in 2021
Make plans to join us for the February webinar: Falls Prevention and Management. This session which is part of the monthly 2021 Standards of Care series, will explore each of the key areas required to meet the Accident Hazards regulation. A variety of sample risk assessments will be reviewed that will assist the facility in ensuring they are identifying the intrinsic and extrinsic risk factors that most commonly contribute to falls. Examples of Fall Investigation tools will also be explored to guide the facility staff in analyzing common risk factors and conducting a successful Root Cause Analysis (RCA). Identifying root causes and applying that information to implementation of interventions that will be most effective in preventing further falls will be emphasized.
Finally, no fall management program is successful unless it has a QAPI component to monitor for effectiveness, and to guide the team to revise interventions as indicated. The Falls Prevention and Management webinar will also introduce models of both electronic and paper data collection tools to utilize as part of a robust QAPI program. Emphasis will be on successfully tracking fall trends and applying data analysis to identify areas for focus improvement efforts.
It takes an interdisciplinary team to implement a fall management program. It takes ongoing educational opportunities to provide the interdisciplinary team with the new ideas and diverse alternatives that will help them implement a successful fall management program.
Join us February 16 or February 17 for a 1-hour webinar focused on Falls Prevention and Management as part of the monthly Standards of Care series focused on mastery of the core elements of LTC clinical excellence. Learn more and register here.
Blog by Janine Lehman, RN, RAC-CT, CLNC, Proactive Medical Review
Click here to learn more about Janine and the rest of the Proactive team.