CHARACTERISTIC OF FALLS IN HOSPITAL

SUNGAI BULOH
Mohd Ali R, Osman L, Nordin N

Geriatric Unit, Department of Medicine, Hospital Sungai Buloh

INTRODUCTION
GRAPH 3
  NURSING SHIFT AND ACTIVITIES FALLERS WAS ATTEMPTING
Incident reporting is important in collecting data for accidental events for quality
assurance and research purposes. There is a rising trend of number of falls in Hospital
Sungai Buloh (HSB); 28 falls in 2014, 37 falls in 2015 and 47 falls in 2016. However others
documentation of reporting the characteristics of falls was arbitrary, insufficient and reaching for things
subjective. An additional form specific to falls Incident Reporting was introduced this ambulation 0701-1400
year. standing 1401-2100
elimination related 2101-0700
METHODS bed transfer
getting out of bed
Retrospective analysis of all Falls reported in the Falls Incident Reporting Form (code 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
HSB-MED-FORM-017 Pin 1/17). Data on characteristics of fallers, location,
Total
circumstances and injuries were collected from 1 st January 2017 until 30th June 2017
in HSB.
Most falls tend to occur during night shift-9pm until 7am (56%). For those age 65 years
and older, this is statistically significant (p value
RESULTS
< 0.05).

There were 32 falls incident were reported during the 6 month period.  59.4% fallers GRAPH 4
were male (n=19) and 40.6% were females (n=13). 18% (n=6) involved those age 65 AGE AND NURSING SHIFT
years and older.
GRAPH 1 15
AGE DIFFERENTIATION BASED ON GENDER
Number of falls

65 and 10 ≤64
above ≥65
51-64 5
41-50
male
31-40 0
female 0701-1400 1401-2100 2101-0700
Age

21-30
Shift
13-20
<12
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Those age 65 years and older are also associated to have falls despite bed railings up
Total number of falls (p<0.05)

GRAPH 5
AGE DIFFERENTIATION AND RAILINGS POSITION

The majority of falls reported was from medical wards (45%), Obstetrics & 30
Gynecology (18%) and neurosurgical (9%).
Number of falls

GRAPH 2 25
FALLS REPORTED BY DEPARTMENT
20
15 Railings
O&G 10 down
19% 5 Railings
0 up
Medical ≤64 ≥65
Neurosurgical
47% 9% Age group

ED
6% Pae- CONCLUSION
di-  
Or- atric Falls in hospital affect all ages. Majority of falls occur in medical wards and during the
thopae 6% night shifts. Most of the falls in hospital tend to occur at the bedside. As this is a
ICU/HDW ENT/Ophtal Surgical dic preliminary data of the pilot reporting form, we hope to gather more information in
3% 3% 3% 3% order to intervene, and improve the quality of services in this hospital.

There were equal number of witnessed and un-witnessed falls. More than 50% of
elimination related falls occurs during night shifts.
Fallers tend to fall at the bedside (62%) and toilet area (27%). 59% sustained no
injuries. The most common injury reported was laceration (18%), followed by swelling
(12%)
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