[Prevention of falls in acute hospital care. Review of the literature].

Patient falls frequently occur in institutions of health care. Various occurrencies may cause patient falls; and sometimes have grave consequences for the people involved, affecting their quality of life. Falls often result in longer stays in hospital and/or in rehabilitation institutions. Hence patient security and prevention of falls become a quality factor for the health care professionals. The literature search on the subject of fall prevention in acute care from a nursing perspective encompasses the years 1988-1998 (MEDLINE, EMBASE). 21 articles were thoroughly examined. The prevention strategies are essentially based on risk assessment (guess of fall danger), intervention (preventive care measures) systematic reporting of the incidents of falls and their consequences. Introduction of the preventing programs and measures resulted in a considerable reduction of patient falls. The preventive measures focussed on reducing the risks of falling in everyday clinical life by increasing attention and presence of the staff caring for patients. The methods used were descriptive or exploratory. Despite plausible reports, connections between preventive measures and a reduced number of patient falls were not scientifically proven. Further investigations to the effectiveness of caring measures concerning fall prevention in acute care of experimental or quasi-experimental design are needed.