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Patient Falls
The Clinical Care Innovations Division involves doctors, nurses, rehabilitation therapists, researchers and more. Our Clinical Care Innovations Division is dedicated to improving veterans' quality of life and safety for those who are frail, and those who are disabled.
We are also dedicated to improving safety for family members and staff who provide care to veterans who are frail and/or disabled. To achieve our mission, our team is examining many issues surrounding falls, wheelchair use, and posture and balance. We are examining issues in hospitals, nursing homes, and homes.
Through our efforts, the team of the Clinical Care Innovations Division serve as consultants to other Veterans Health Care Organizations and community organizations. We will offer educational materials and conferences to share knowledge and improve clinical practices of others.
Our Patient Safety Center, Clinical Care Innovations Division, serves as a center of excellence for improving safety of patients, in addition to safety of caregivers.
Key Objective
To develop and test clinical innovations and decrease risk related to mobility
Clinical Addition
The PSCI has expanded to include a clinical program. Modeled after the GRECC (Geriatric Research Education Clinical Center), this clinical addition will allow the PSCI to develop and test clinical innovations that can be exported throughout the VHA. VISN 8 has funded 6.5 FTEE including a geriatrician, pharmacist, nurse practitioner, physical therapists, LPN, and clerk. This team will evaluate veterans at risk for falls. Key clinical programs in development include a Gait and Balance Laboratory, Tai Chi Program to Prevent Patient Falls, Exercise Interventions to Promote Strengthening, Protocols for Repeat Fallers, Patient Education Materials for Fall Prevention in the Home, interventions for fallaphobia, and other clinical interventions.
VISN 8 has funded a five-year lease to provide 10,000 NSF of space.
Projects
The Falls Toolkit
Many facilities are working to find ways to reduce the number of falls as well as the severity of the falls that do occur. In an effort to help facilities, we working in conjunction with the National Center Patient Safety to create the Falls Toolkit.
The Falls Toolkit provides information on:
- Designing a falls prevention and management program
- Effective interventions for high-risk fall patients
- Implementing hip protectors for high-risk fall patients
- Educating patients, families and staff on falls and fall-injury prevention
The toolkit is available online at: http://www.patientsafety.gov/SafetyTopics/fallstoolkit
The Functional Balance Class Guide
This manual was devised to disseminate a successfully proven balance intervention strategy which was developed by the VISN 8 Patient Safety Center Falls Clinical Division. This treatment intervention consists of an 8 week Functional Balance Class with accompanying home exercise program. The class is led by a therapist (PT or KT), and convenes once per week. This intervention is targeted towards community-dwelling patients with balance and gait difficulties who complain of falls or episodes of near falls.
The Functional Balance Class Guide
Other Items of Interest
Blood Thinners: Risk Factors Associated with Falling and What to Do When you Fall (.pdf)
James A. Haley Veterans Hospital: Reducing Severe Injury from Falls in Two Medical Surgical Units: Institute for Healthcare Improvement Collaborative Final Report July 1, 2006 to July 31, 2007 (.pdf)
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