Characteristics of Hospital Inpatient Falls across Clinical Departments

Abstract

In the hospital studied, inpatient falls are significantly more common in departments of geriatrics and internal medicine than in surgical departments. Fall rates, related injuries and circumstances of inpatient falls varied significantly among clinical departments, probably due to differences in patient characteristics. When monitoring falls, hospitals should therefore consider differences in characteristics associated with patient falls across clinical departments. High priorities should be allocated in view of identifying patients at risk of falling and implementing fall prevention strategies and interventions.