Fall prevention among psychiatric patients in an Iranian hospital: a best practice implementation project.

Introduction: Falls are the main cause of disability among psychiatric patients, as well as being the most common adverse event in hospitals.

Aim: The aim of this evidence implementation project was to improve fall prevention and management among psychiatric patients in a neurology ward in an Iranian tertiary psychiatric hospital.

Methods: This project used the JBI Evidence Implementation Framework, which recommends an audit, feedback, and re-audit strategy. A baseline audit was conducted to evaluate current fall prevention practices among 50 psychiatric patients and 20 health care professionals. The baseline audit was used to identify gaps in compliance. After the implementation of improvement strategies, a follow-up audit was conducted to measure any changes in practice.

Results: The baseline and follow-up audits revealed that compliance with best practices improved in ward transfer fall risk assessment (Criterion 2: 87% to 90%), patient participation in fall risk assessment (Criterion 3: 95% to 96%), revising patient fall risk status (Criterion 9: 50% to 86%), and person-centered education of health care providers (Criterion 11: 78% to 96%). Other audit criteria remained unchanged. However, for Criterion 6 on patient engagement in goal-setting and treatment planning, compliance dropped from 100% at baseline to 94% at follow-up.

Conclusions: This project successfully increased evidence-based practices regarding fall prevention and management, as well as providing mechanisms for sustaining the practice changes. Future audits are required to further improve outcomes.

Spanish abstract: http://links.lww.com/IJEBH/A267.