Disclosures: Benjamin M. Carpenter, MD: No financial relationships or conflicts of interest

Objective: To reduce the number of falls that occur within 72 hours of admission to an acute rehabilitation unit by 25% over a one-year period.

Design: Plan Do Study Act (PDSA) cycle Setting : Acute inpatient rehabilitation unit at the Puget Sound VA. Participants : Veterans admitted to an acute inpatient rehabilitation between April 2019 and December 2019

Interventions: A protocol was implemented for patients admitted to the inpatient rehabilitation unit. This protocol included the initiation of bed and chair alarms on admission and removal once all established criteria were met, including consistent call light use.

Main Outcome Measures: Our primary outcome measure was reduction of falls within 72 hours of admission (early falls). Other outcome measures included reduction in total number of falls, percentage of veterans cleared from protocol on day 1 of admission, perceived burden implementing the protocol and time spent implementing and reinforcing protocol.

Results: There was a 90% reduction in early falls, and a 36% reduction in total falls after implementing this protocol. 85% of staff survey respondents found the protocol to was not difficult or mildly difficult to initiate. 80% of respondents spent 15 minutes or less implementing/reinforcing the protocol. Conclusions: A bed and chair alarm protocol can help reduce early falls on an acute inpatient rehabilitation unit. To further reduce perceived staff burden, we have revised our protocol and will perform another PDSA cycle over the next year.

Level of Evidence: Level V

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PM&R Meeting Abstracts - https://pmrjabstracts.org/abstract/reducing-early-falls-on-an-acute-rehabilitation-unit/