The evaluation of a fall management program in a nursing home population.
OBJECTIVE
This study evaluates a nursing home Fall Management program to see if residents' mobility increased and injurious falls decreased.


METHODS
Administrative health care use and fall occurrence report data were analyzed from 2 rural health regions in Manitoba, Canada, from June 1, 2003 to March 31, 2008. A quasiexperimental, pre-post, comparison group design was used to compare rates of three outcomes, falls, injurious falls, and falls resulting in hospitalization, by RHA (program vs nonprogram nursing homes) and period (preprogram vs postprogram). Data collectors entered occurrence report information into spreadsheets. This was supplemented with administrative health care use data.


RESULTS
The program appears to have benefitted residents-falls trended upward, injurious falls remained stable, and hospitalized falls decreased significantly (0.036-0.021 per person-year [ppy]; p = .043). Compared with nonprogram residents in the postperiod, both groups had the same fall rate, but program residents had significantly fewer injurious falls (0.596-0.746 ppy; p = .02) and hospitalized falls (0.02-0.041 ppy; p = .023).


CONCLUSIONS
These results are among a small body of literature showing that Fall Management was associated with improved outcomes in program nursing homes from pre- to postperiod and compared with nonprogram nursing homes. This research provides some support for the benefits of being proactive and implementing injury prevention strategies universally and pre-emptively before a resident falls, helping to minimize injuries while keeping residents mobile and active. Larger scale research is needed to identify the true effectiveness of the Fall Management program and generalizability of results.
Address correspondence to Elaine Burland, Department of Community Health Sciences, University of Manitoba, Manitoba Centre for Health Policy (MCHP), 408-727 McDermot Ave., Winnipeg, Manitoba R3E 3P5, Canada. E-mail: elaine_burland@cpe.umanitoba.ca.
Elaine
E
Burland
Patricia
P
Martens
Marni
M
Brownell
Malcolm
M
Doupe
Don
D
Fuchs
D000058:Accidental Falls / Q000517:prevention & control*; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006707:Homes for the Aged; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008350:Manitoba; D009735:Nursing Homes; D018570:Risk Assessment; D040242:Risk Reduction Behavior; D012424:Rural Population; D017751:Safety Management / Q000379:methods*; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000517:prevention & control*
Administrative data; Canada; Injury minimization; Manitoba; Quasiexperiment; Rural