Patients who are in the hospital need to receive care that is tailored to their needs. For some, this involves being placed under fall precautions because it isn’t safe for them to get up and move about without help. It is imperative that these individuals have fast responses to calls for help so they don’t try to get up without assistance.
If a patient has fall precautions, this fact should be clearly noted in their chart. Some facilities also place a sign near the door of the room and put a bracelet on the patient. A hospital patient falling is considered a “never event” because it shouldn’t happen under any circumstances.
It is estimated that anywhere from 3% to 20% of patients in the hospital will fall at least once during the course of their stay. This can lead to tragedy, which might even include broken bones for some patients.
There are several factors that must be considered when determining whether a patient is a risk of falling or not. The patient’s age and abilities matter, as well as what medications and medical conditions they have. Elderly patients who are frail might need to be placed on fall restrictions if they have any factors that increase their risk because they might have a greater chance of a catastrophic injury if they do fall.
When a patient falls at the hospital, they should receive immediate care to ascertain whether there is anything medically wrong or not. For patients who were on fall precautions, a hospital negligence case might be appropriate because the fall shouldn’t have ever happened.
