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Keywords
falls, cost, acute care
Disciplines
Nursing
Description
For decades, patient falls have been the most prevalent adverse safety event and quality of care issue in hospitals nationwide (Moskowitz, et al, 2020). Approximately one-third to one-half of these falls are classified as a fall with injury, some serious, including fractures, subdural hematomas, bleeding, and even death. (Moskowitz, et al, 2020). Falls are also a financial burden, potentially costing $30,000 per event due to increased length of stay, treatments, and litigation (Moskowitz, et al, 2020). In 2024, a 64-bed unit hospital inpatient rehabilitation (IPR) unit within an acute care teaching hospital had an increase in the Injury Falls rate (per 1000 patient days) in comparison to peer Magnet facilities. Accordingly, IPR nurse leaders collaborated with hospital leadership to develop intervention strategies to decrease IPR fall rates. IPR leaders designed a fall prevention strategy that focused on the predictive model fall risk score (PMFRS). The PMFRS is calculated automatically within the electronic medical record (Epic) by analyzing data from the patient’s record such as medications, labs, and flowsheet values (i.e. vital signs). The numeric score calculated for each patient is then translated into a low, medium or high risk for falls. The Epic PMFRS utilized by the hospital system, was found to be slightly superior to manual assessment (i.e. MORSE fall scale) at calculating fall risk, with 60% of patients who fell being identified as high risk using the manual assessment and 62% using PMFRS (Hagemann, 2025).
The aim of this quality improvement (QI) project is to evaluate the effectiveness of a fall prevention program emphasizing the PMFRS of IPR patients identified to be of increased fall risk.
Publication Date
5-2025
Recommended Citation
Zawadzki P, Horne C, Ibrahim F, Leone R. We’ve got your number: using the predictive model fall risk score to identify patients with a high risk of falling on an inpatient rehabilitation unit. Presented at Corewell Health William Beaumont University Hospital; 2025 May 6-12; Royal Oak, MI.
Comments
Nurses Week at Corewell Health William Beaumont University Hospital, Royal Oak, MI, May 6-12, 2025.