Falls Network

Reducing the incidence and impact of falls in hospital settings

Falls are a leading cause of preventable harm and suffering across community, hospital and residential aged-care settings.

As part of our collaboration with Melbourne Academic Centre for Health (MACH) and Monash Partners Academic Health Science Centre, Western Alliance has been involved in establishing the ‘Victorian Falls Prevention Alliance.’ The purpose of the alliance is to work collaboratively with clinicians, researchers, consumers and health services to reduce falls and falls injuries in hospitals. This work is led by Professor Terry Haines and is overseen by a committee made up of researchers, clinicians and consumers.

The group has secured a $1.1 million NHMRC ideas grant to lead a project investigating the effect of removing mobilisation alarms from use in hospital wards across six of our partner health service organisations. Read more here.

Priority areas have been established and a large mapping study of falls prevention strategies and investment across our six health service partners has been completed. The study captured more than 5,000 episodes of routine care and identified areas for disinvestment due to a lack of benefit, including mobilisation alarms, designed to alert staff when a patient is attempting to mobilise and may be at risk of falling.

To find out more about this initiative please contact Drew Aras: drew.aras@westernalliance.org.au

To sign up for the Victorian Falls Prevention Alliance newsletter, email info@monashpartners.org.au