FALLS RISK IN THE EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT
PROJECT LEAD: James Condren
ITERN LEAD: Jeff Mulcaire & Marcus Jee
STUDY OUTLINE:
BACKGROUND:
Patients falling in ED is, to some degree, a preventable harm that requires identification of ‘at-risk’ patients. Falls occurring in patients in hospital settings are a significant burden on health services. The reported incidence of inpatient falls has risen over the last number of years in Ireland with over 11,800 falls reported in acute care settings in 2016, increasing to over 15,700 in 2018.
Currently, falls while in the ED are not considered as part of any key performance indicators (KPIs) and so there is a paucity of data and published research in this area.
Patients suffer harm in 24% of falls occurring in acute services in Ireland with 6% of these resulting in serious injury such as hip fracture, traumatic brain injury or death.2 Falls not resulting in serious injury can still have serious consequences for the patients involved. Many elderly patients who fall while in hospital will ultimately have a longer admission, prolonged rehabilitation and loss of confidence
STUDY: FRED is a multicentre study that aims to better understand where, why and how patients under our care fall in the ED. We want to obtain this data to better understand the circumstances surrounding a falls influenced by both patient and environmental factors in hopes for a meaningful change to take place in this area
DATA: The target population are patients who fall in the ED for any reason. The data to be collected is patient data relevant to the Fall and its circumstances. The data will be collected prospectively during a period in time.
RESULTS: The results will be published in a relevant journal accessible to those who work in emergency medicine. The results will also be presented at national meetings, such as IAEM
AUTHORSHIP & COLLABORATIONS: The main Authors will be of James Condren and his team. All who participate under the flag of ITERN will be given the collaborator status in the publication. These names will be indexed when the publication is finalised.
TIMELINE: We aim to start this study in the month of January 2025. Currently, we are still in the recruitment phase, and will be finalising the sites by December 2024.
Who do I contact if I would like to take part in this study?
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfLi_UjYIcWbHh_tz6aoKmNtqDPAOTcCeyRW1DFtyvEUTyiYQ/viewform
James & Jeff: condrej@tcd.ie & j.mulcaire1@gmail.com
If Im already involved as a site lead for data. what do I do?
IF you are already involved in this study, You will be invited formally via email.
A link to a discord/whatsapp group will be sent to you and your name will appear in a table here on this page for confirmation when updated.
A study pack will be sent out containing all paperwork (incl. background, study design etc) to send to your local ethical committee and all of the steps/forms to ease collection of the data.