Although Never Events are considered preventable, some are far more prevalent than others. Patient Injury or Death resulting from a fall inside the hospital is a particularly high risk Never Event. As a result, additional concern should be applied to preventing patient falls.

The Cost of Patient Falls

Aside from lowering the safety reputation of a hospital, patient falls are a large financial burden as well. Since patient injury or death due to falls are included on the list of “Never Events” published by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for 2009, hospitals are denied full reimbursement should any such event occur. Patient falls can cost even a small hospital tens of thousands of dollars annually, not including the cost of any resulting litigation.

See also the White Paper, “An Assessment of Falls in Patients’ Rooms and Methods of Prevention” which analyzes the severity of patient fall liability for hospitals; and methods of fall prevention.

Fall Prevention Methods

The great burden to reduce patient falls has led hospitals to incorporate many different methods and techniques over the years aimed at lowering patient fall rates. Risk-assessment tools have been popular in hospitals. Such tools include:

• The Morse Fall Scale
• The STRATIFY tool
• The Hendrich II Fall Risk Model
• Schmid Fall Risk Assessment Tool

Falls prevention programs have also been utilized. These programs can be used to educate both nurses and patients regarding fall risk factors and injuries that can result from falls. Some hospitals have even used extensive physical therapy to reduce the risk of falls for individual patients.

Fall Prevention Technology

From a technological standpoint, many devices have been implemented to help nurses respond rapidly to fall-risk patients. Bed fall alert systems and monitoring systems utilize a variety of alerts, both visual and auditory, to help nurses respond more quickly.

Recently, new technologies have become available, such as Dalcon Alert, which integrates with patient monitoring systems and sends alarms directly to nurses regardless of their location.  Because nurses receive patient monitoring alarms immediately with Dalcon Alert, they can quickly react to alerts, and proactively reduce patient falls.

Many techniques, tools, and technologies have been utilized to reduce fall rates in hospitals, but fall rates are still remain high.  The primary reason patient monitors fail to stop falls is because caregivers are unable to receive patient monitor alarms remotely.  As a result, caregivers are only able to act upon those alarms they can see and hear in their close vicinity.

Solutions Offered by New Technology

Dalcon Alert helps hospitals prevent patient falls by managing and remotely communicating patient monitor alarms.

Dalcon Alert sends patient monitor alarms directly to wireless phones carried by caregivers.  Remotely communicating alarms directly to caregivers allows caregivers to react to all changes in patient status, and provide their best possible patient care.
Dalcon Alert also sends alarms to the nursing station console where they can be viewed in real-time.  This up-to-date tracking of all patient monitoring alarms assures that no alarm will be overlooked.

Specifically, Dalcon Alert connects with up to five common monitoring devices including, but not limited to:

• IV pumps
• bed fall pads
• bed exit pads
• patient monitors

By working with existing patient care devices, Dalcon Alert can dramatically reduce patient fall rates, thus saving hospitals tens of thousands of dollars annually.

For more information about the severity of patient fall liability, and methods used to prevent falls, see the white paper “An Assessment of Falls in Patients’ Rooms and Methods of Prevention.”