Fall risk in patients with acute psychosis.
Patients receiving acute care for the treatment of psychotic disorders are at risk for falling. Complex medication regimens initiated to manage psychomotor agitation, lability, and aggression can contribute to physiological instability that may not be identified easily by clinicians. This quality improvement initiative identified prescribing practices associated with risk for falling and established a simple mechanism to monitor pharmacological treatment, which resulted in a reduction of the fall rate from 6.0 to 0.46.
Knight
Margaret
M
Department of Nursing, University of Massachusetts Lowell, MA 01854, USA. Margaret_Knight@uml.edu
Coakley
Catherine
C
D000058:Accidental Falls / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011568:Psychiatric Nursing / Q000379:methods*; D011595:Psychomotor Agitation / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000451:nursing; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000451:nursing*; D012307:Risk Factors; D040242:Risk Reduction Behavior; D055815:Young Adult