Shared on behalf of the Fall Prevention Committee
Please post the attached memo and poster in your department to highlight November Fall Prevention Month.
As you may be aware, November is nationally recognized as Falls Prevention Month. However, for Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre, falls prevention is a priority all year long. We have an interprofessional Falls Prevention Committee which relaunched in September 2023, and consists of over 15 members representing Diagnostic Imaging, Interprofessional Education, Medical Inpatient Leadership, Nursing Practice, Occupational Therapy, Patient and Family Centred Care (including Patient Family Advisor), Pharmacy, Physiotherapy, Quality and Risk Management, Strategy and Performance, and Transitional Care Unit Leadership.
The purpose of this committee is to identify activities that will support the reduction of falls and reduce the risk of patient injuries from falls in the Hospital setting. Over the past year, this team has been working hard on a number of initiatives not only aimed at reducing falls, but also highlighting that we all have a role to play (whether you are clinical, non-clinical, inpatient or outpatient) – including:
- Implementing non-slip socks (across inpatient and outpatient areas)
- Conducting fall risk simulations (with Dietary Aids and Housekeeping)
- Completing various audits to identify opportunities for improvement (meal tray delivery, time of falls, etc.)
- Updating the bedside communication whiteboards (embedded falling star symbol to identify high fall risk patients)
- Rolling out a campaign focused on overbed tables being cleared and placed within reach prior to meals (“When meals are on the way, make room for the tray – everyone has a role to play”)
- Developing a standardized post-fall checklist
Stay tuned for an update on the above initiatives at the next All Staff Town Hall on Wednesday, December 18th!
For more information/tools/resources related to Falls Prevention Month (1) and our Falls Prevention Committee (2), please visit:
- https://www.fallpreventionmonth.ca
- Intranet > Committees > Falls Prevention Committee