title: Fall TIPS: strategies to promote adoption and use of a fall prevention toolkit.
abstract: Patient falls are serious problems in hospitals. Risk factors for falls are well understood and nurses routinely assess for fall risk on all hospitalized patients. However, the link from nursing assessment of fall risk, to identification and communication of tailored interventions to prevent falls is yet to be established. The Fall TIPS (Tailoring Interventions for Patient Safety) Toolkit was developed to leverage existing practices and workflows and to employ information technology to improve fall prevention practices. The purpose of this paper is to describe the Fall TIPS Toolkit and to report on strategies used to drive adoption of the Toolkit in four acute care hospitals. Using the IHI "Framework for Spread" as a conceptual model, the research team describes the "spread" of the Fall TIPS Toolkit as means to integrate effective fall prevention practices into the workflow of interdisciplinary caregivers, patients and family members.
authors.affiliation: Partners Healthcare System, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Patricia C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Dykes
authors.forename: Diane L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Carroll
authors.forename: Ann
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hurley
authors.forename: Ronna
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gersh-Zaremski
authors.forename: Ann
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kennedy
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kurowski
authors.forename: Kim
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tierney
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Benoit
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Stuart
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lipsitz
authors.forename: Justine
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pang
authors.forename: Ruslana
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tsurkova
authors.forename: Lyubov
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zuyov
authors.forename: Blackford
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Middleton
mesh_terms: D000058:Accidental Falls / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D008491:Medical Informatics Applications; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012984:Software