Identification of Contributing Factors of Falls and Non-Fall Accidents Among Home Care Clients: A Retrospective Study Using Incident Reports

To prevent falls and other accidents among home care clients, it is essential to gather high-quality information on the factors contributing to the accidents. Incident reporting systems are used in home care units to generate information for risk management. This study aimed to explore the contributing factors of falls and non-fall accidents among home care clients and to evaluate the accuracy of the information on contributing factors gained from the incident reporting system. An existing dataset was used—safety incident reports concerning accidents involving home care clients. The incident reports (n = 323) were stored in the social- and health care organization’s incident reporting database from 2018 to 2020. The free-text narratives describing factors contributing to the event’s occurrence were analyzed using inductive content analysis, and the frequencies of the main category codes were recorded. The results were then compared with the frontline managers’ analyses of the narratives, where the managers used the classification of contributing factors provided by the system. According to incident reports, intrinsic (person-specific), behavior-related and extrinsic (environment-related) factors contributed to accidents among home care clients. Intrinsic and behavior-related factors were reported more often than extrinsic factors. The classified information on contributing factors did not correspond in all respects to the descriptions in the incident reports. To ensure high-quality information for safety management, incident reporting tools must be appropriate for use in the home care context. Both the reporter of an adverse event and the individual responsible for analyzing the report play essential roles in identifying contributing factors of accidents.