Background: Falls are one of the highest reported adverse events across Australia and much of the world. Implementing targeted, multidisciplinary falls prevention strategies to address risk is considered the cornerstone in falls prevention.
Objectives: This project aimed to identify gaps in current practices against international best practice standards and overcome these gaps by identifying barriers and implementing effective practice change with an aim to reduce hospital falls rates.
Method: This project utilized the Joanna Briggs Institute's Practical Application of Clinical Evidence System and Getting Research into Practice methodology.
Results: There were numerous gaps identified across the organization, many of which were addressed successfully as part of this process. Follow-up audit revealed increased compliance towards best practice standards compared with baseline, which were sustainable across two audit cycles. This did not however, change the rate of falls on the wards.
Conclusions: In conclusion, this was an effective process in identifying best practice gaps throughout the organization and on the wards and implementing effective practice change. However, the best practice literature itself has some gaps that need to be addressed to combat in-hospital falls both nationally and internationally.