{
  "abstract": "Background Hospital falls persist as a major threat to patient safety. This study aimed to develop an interprofessional reference standard to prevent, manage and report hospital falls.Methods A Delphi consensus methodology, informed by the Conducting and Reporting Delphi Studies guideline, was used to design the reference standard. An interprofessional expert panel (n=47) of health professionals, researchers, policymakers and consumers participated in three Delphi rounds. Following the review of clinical guidelines, an e-Delphi survey was developed and piloted to derive 60 initial items for the standard. Two iterative rounds of e-Delphi surveys were distributed via Research Electronic Data Capture and included free-text questions and 9-point Likert scales. An online consensus meeting followed, to ratify the final standard.Results In the first Delphi round, there was over 80% agreement for 44/60 items to be included in the reference standard. This increased to 48/60 items in Round 2. At the final consensus meeting, 12 items still did not reach consensus for inclusion and one was added, yielding 49 items. Items that replicated text according to falls with injury/without injury were combined, resulting in 42 items in the final reference standard. Agreed items included: (1) brief screening of falls risk on hospital admission; (2) comprehensive falls assessment for inpatients who are older, frailer or have complex conditions; (3) single interventions (such as environmental adaptations and exercise); (4) multifactorial interventions; (5) education of patients, families and staff; (6) optimising local falls hospital policies, procedures and leadership capability; (7) optimising documentation and reporting; (8) improving accreditation processes; (9) workforce redesign to augment falls education. Items that did not reach agreement (n=12) pertained to alarms, bed rails, grip socks, artificial intelligence, volunteers and care bundles.Conclusion This new reference standard provides a checklist for staff, patients, managers and policymakers to reduce unwanted variations in prevention, management and reporting of hospital falls.Trial registration number ANZCTR 386960",
  "authors": [
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Academic and Research Collaborative in Health, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria, Australia",
        "The Victorian Rehabilitation Centre, Healthscope Limited, Glen Waverley, Victoria, Australia"
      ],
      "name": "Meg E Morris"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia",
        "Western Health, St Albans, Victoria, Australia"
      ],
      "name": "Catherine M Said"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Rehabilitation Ageing and Independent Living (RAIL) Research Centre, Monash University, Frankston, Victoria, Australia"
      ],
      "name": "Terry Haines"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Allied Health, Northern Health, Epping, Victoria, Australia",
        "School of Allied Health, Human Services and Sport, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia"
      ],
      "name": "Hazel Wei Fen Heng"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia",
        "National Ageing Research Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia"
      ],
      "name": "Frances Batchelor"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Centre for Quality and Patient Safety Research, Institute for Health Transformation, Deakin University School of Nursing and Midwifery, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia"
      ],
      "name": "Alison M Hutchinson"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Academic and Research Collaborative in Health, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria, Australia",
        "School of Allied Health, Human Services and Sport, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia"
      ],
      "name": "Jonathan P McKercher"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Allied Health, Northern Health, Epping, Victoria, Australia",
        "School of Allied Health, Human Services and Sport, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia"
      ],
      "name": "Adam Ivan Semciw"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "School of Allied Health, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia",
        "Western Australian Centre for Health and Ageing, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia"
      ],
      "name": "Anne-Marie Hill"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Academic and Research Collaborative in Health, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria, Australia"
      ],
      "name": "Stephen Peterson"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia",
        "St Vincents Hospital Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia"
      ],
      "name": "Richard Kane"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "School of Allied Health and Social Care, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Sally Fowler-Davis"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "The Victorian Rehabilitation Centre, Healthscope Limited, Glen Waverley, Victoria, Australia"
      ],
      "name": "Sarah Campbell"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, New South Wales, Australia",
        "Sydney Musculoskeletal Health, Institute for Musculoskeletal Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia"
      ],
      "name": "Catherine Sherrington"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "School of Allied Health, Human Services and Sport, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia",
        "Allied Health Department, Alfred Health, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia"
      ],
      "name": "Julia Gilmartin-Thomas"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Allied Health, Northern Health, Epping, Victoria, Australia"
      ],
      "name": "Uyen Phan"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Academic and Research Collaborative in Health, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria, Australia",
        "The Victorian Rehabilitation Centre, Healthscope Limited, Glen Waverley, Victoria, Australia"
      ],
      "name": "Claire Thwaites"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [],
      "name": "Hospital Falls Reference Standard Consensus Group"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Reference standard for the prevention and management of hospital falls: a multidisciplinary Delphi consensus study",
  "uid": "0dc51f66-0b48-5426-a09e-8629e095d6cd"
}