Pikes Peak Ethics Committee Meeting

First Friday of every month at noon.
Email me if you would like to be added to our email list to receive the agenda and reminders about the meeting.
https://zoom.us/j/97461641616?pwd=YPpJU1ZHMG3bTChSVxAcD9gb39qVaY.1

Falls

I’ve noticed a lot of concerns about falls over the last two months. I encourage facilities to have a written and formal fall program. This program should take a continuous quality improvement approach to falls. There are many ways to accomplish this, and I have provided some resources below. There are some interventions that probably should be used when a resident falls more than once and no root cause has been identified. I will be working on a new list of potential fall interventions to update the one linked below.

Post fall huddle (ASAP!)
- ASAP, with the CNAs and nurses that identified the fall
- Root cause analysis
Environment evaluation
- Accidental fall?
  - Spill on floor, trip on oxygen tubing, slipped in transition, etc…
  - Interventions planned
  - Review interventions daily for 30 days to assess success of intervention
  - Document intervention and efficacy of intervention.
- Change in condition?
  - New onset medical condition
  - Postural hypotension
  - Dizziness
  - confusion
  - new medication
  - progression of dementia or other chronic disease state
Vital signs.
Orthostatic blood pressure and heart rate
Check glucose
Alert physician
- Collect the information above within 24 hours.
- Once you have the above information collected, present the case to the patient’s attending physician.
PT evaluation
Vision assessment – PT can do a functional visual assessment
Physician evaluation for falls
- Physical exam and labs/imaging aimed at identifying causes of falling, weakness, dizziness, functional decline, or other potential change in medical status that could increase fall risk.
- Physician note outlining recognition of falls, plan for workup, potential causes, interventions, lab/imaging results, and expectation for successful interventions.