title: Measuring hospital falls prevention safety climate.
abstract: The prevention of falls is a key safety priority for hospitals. There are no tools that examine the safety climate from a falls prevention perspective. The aim of this study was to measure the falls prevention safety climate at an Australian metropolitan hospital. The Victorian Safety Climate Survey (SCS) was used to examine the general safety climate, with four items replicated and modified to examine the falls prevention climate. Data (N = 458) for the six SCS domains compared favourably with statewide data. The falls prevention items were correlated with the original items from which they were derived but responses regarding falls prevention tended to be less positive than patient safety more broadly. Priorities for improvement identified using a falls SCS can inform the development of falls prevention strategies and form the basis of a more comprehensive tool to explore the falls prevention safety climate.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Nursing Research, Deakin University and Monash Health Partnership, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
authors.forename: Paul N
authors.initials: PN
authors.lastname: Bennett
authors.forename: Cherene
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ockerby
authors.forename: Judy
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Stinson
authors.forename: Karlene
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Willcocks
authors.forename: Cheyne
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chalmers
mesh_terms: D000058:Accidental Falls / Q000517:prevention & control*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D061214:Patient Safety; D014739:Victoria
keywords: acute care; falls prevention; safety climate