There are many fall risk assessment tools available however, most were developed specifically for inpatient settings. Some patients, such as a demented elderly patient with gait disturbances, will always be considered a fall risk. Some patients are at risk in the short term, such as a patient who is intoxicated or influenced by mind-altering substances. Identifying patients at risk for falls is harder than it sounds. First, how do we identify who is at risk? Second, what do we do once we have identified them? 5Īnalyzing falls in the ED can be a 2-step process. According to the Joint Commission, 30-50% of falls result in injuries, leading to an average of 6.3 days in increased length of stay and about $14,000 in additional medical costs per admission. It places them at risk for a multitude of injuries, from abrasions or contusions to fractures, head injuries, and even severe disability and death. A few studies have quoted fall rates anywhere from 0.15 2 to 0.288 patients, up to as high as 0.73, prior to interventions.Ĭlearly, falling is bad for patients. 1 Because most of the literature aggregates all falls occurring in the hospital as a whole, it is hard to determine how many of these falls actually occur in the ED. The vast majority of existing literature regarding falls in the ED has been developed and published in nursing journals, but corresponding articles have not filtered into the physician space.Īs of 2013, between 700,000 to 1 million patients fall in U.S. However, there is little data on falls that actually occur in the emergency department. The literature reveals plenty of research on inpatient falls, outpatient falls, falls in geriatrics, and methods of preventing falls in geriatrics.

But does the evidence bear out this assumption? Crowded, busy emergency departments seem susceptible to an increased risk of slip-and-fall accidents that keep administrators awake at night.

Most falls occur in the vicinity of the