It is Falmouth Hospital’s mission “to coordinate and deliver the highest quality, accessible health services, which enhance the health of all Cape Cod residents and visitors”. Our commitment to patient safety has been demonstrated by our Pioneer Hospital status for the 100K lives campaign and adoption of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) patient safety measures that include patient falls.
Our Fall Prevention program, “Don’t Fall for Me” initiative, includes a fall risk assessment of all patients, identification of patients at risk for falls, and the implimentation of appropriate interventions. Developed and managed by Falmouth Hospital's Fall Prevention Committee," Don’t Fall for Me" seeks to eliminate the factors that place a patient at risk and/or to assist the patient and staff to develop a plan of care to reduce the probability of a fall when their risk factors cannot be removed. The Fall Prevention Committee works with the Risk Management department to review falls as they occur to help formulate appropriate plans for fall prevention.
Our major accomplishment continues to be a low rate of patient falls with injury, with an average less than one per month. At present, the fall prevention strategies at Falmouth Hospital include a functional activity sheets, posted at the bedside for each patient, the use of a yellow wrist band to identify those patients at risk, and the use of bed/chair alarms, medication evaluation and education, frequent monitoring, and toileting interventions. Since a majority of our population are elderly and at risk, we are continually assessing and developing interventions for improvement. These include a formalized sitter program, the development of a multidisciplinary check list to help ensure staff compliance with the fall risk prevention protocol, and a diversional activity box program. Additionally, designated staff will be attending a train-the-trainer Geriatric Training Program with a component specifically addressing fall prevention. Education of patients, families, and staff is ongoing.
The Fall Prevention Committee is currently working under a risk management grant to review and revise the current fall prevention program, to develope a tool to assess and intervene with patients identified at highest risk for a fall, to impliment an interdisciplinary approach to fall prevention, and to monitor our outcomes.
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