Falls Lengthen Hospital Stays, Even in Uninjured Patients
A new Canadian study revealed that inpatient falls lengthen hospital stays for all patients, regardless of degree of injury. The retrospective observational study at a 728-bed acute care teaching hospital compared 292 patients who fell with 330 control patients. Controls were selected on the basis of case mix, gender, Resource Intensity Weights, and week of admission. Cases were obtained from the hospital fall incident reporting system and the Discharge Abstract Database. Patients who fell had an average length of stay of 37.2 days, compared with 25.7 days for matched control patients. Patients who did not fall in the hospital were 2.4 times more likely to be discharge earlier than patients who fell. Experiencing any fall in the hospital is associated with an increased length of stay, regardless of injury extent.
Dunne TJ, Gaboury I, Ashe MC. Falls in hospital increase length of stay regardless of degree of harm. J Eval Clin Pract. 2014; doi:10.1111/jep/12144.
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