ECRI is urging hospital and health system leaders to take a balanced approach to fall prevention technology.
Patient falls — a persistent healthcare safety issue — can cost an average of $14,000 per fall with injury. Each year, between 700,000 and 1 million U.S. patients fall in hospitals. Such a prevalent and expensive issue has led many leaders to adopt a myriad of fall prevention technologies, but few are aware of the associated risks, according to an April 14 blog post from the organization.
One of the most common fall prevention strategies is virtual video monitoring, but this technology can be prone to camera blind spots, network failures and patient privacy concerns. It also requires dedicated staff to monitor the video — which can lead to new staff challenges and potential for distraction or fatigue.
“It is crucial to remember that virtual monitoring is not a perfect substitute for in-person care and must be integrated thoughtfully into existing clinical workflows,” the post said.
Another common technology is predictive risk tools that can calculate real-time patient-specific fall risk scores. However, these tools are prone to alarm fatigue if alerts are not managed correctly; algorithmic biases can lead to improper calculations based on population; and the accuracy of these scores depends on high-quality, timely data entry.
ECRI, a nonprofit patient safety organization, is urging leaders to take a systems-based approach to these technologies rather than looking at an individual component. It also encourages leaders to employ human factors engineering to ensure the technology and systems are intuitive, safe and effective while also engaging front-line staff through the selection and implementation process.
The post comes weeks after ECRI said most patient falls are tied to system failures rather than poor adherence to evidence-based interventions.
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