Adult Inpatient Hospital Falls with Injury: A Retrospective Analysis

Background: Understanding what factors contribute to fall-related injuries is essential for developing and implementing interventions aimed at eliminating such incidents in a tertiary hospital in Saudi Arabia.

Purpose: This study aims to determine the factors that contributed to patient falls resulting in injury among adult patients admitted to a tertiary hospital in Saudi Arabia.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective study of 89 adult patient falls incidents that resulted in injuries between January 2019 and September 2021. We evaluated the demographic, patient, provider, environmental, organizational, and sociocultural variables. Included in the analysis were descriptive statistics, frequency, median, and interquartile range (IQR). The relationships between injury levels and key variables were evaluated using the chi-square test where P≤0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results: A high percentage of patient falls resulting in injury were unwitnessed/unassisted (87.64%). Patients who sustained injuries from the fall have an age range of 38 years and older and are predominantly male (61.80%). All serious injuries were sustained by those aged 58 years and older (100%). The majority of patients had low levels of hemoglobin (92.13%). The association between the environment and injury level was found to be highly statistically significant (x2=21.12, P value=0.002). The median time between physician was notified and physician’s response was 20 minutes, with an interquartile range of 1 hour and 7 minutes.

Conclusion: We emphasize the importance of including the older age, gender, and hemoglobin in screening and preventative measures aimed at preventing fall-related injuries. In addition, a physician's prompt response is essential for preventing the initial injury from deteriorating further.