Effectiveness of an Instructional Program on Decreasing Fall Incidents in Geriatric Patients with Psychiatric Disorders

Falls occur in 25% of older adults, resulting in over 8 million fatal and nonfatal injuries. In addition to the human suffering, associated medical and legal costs amount to over 50 billion dollars a year. This study examines the impact on fall rates of an evidence-based fall prevention program provided to a multidisciplinary staff on a psycho geriatric unit in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Staff knowledge of effective fall prevention interventions was measured before and after their participation in an evidence-based instructional workshop provided by the Project Director using the Falls Prevention Knowledge Test by Dykes et al. (2019). While there were not statistically significant differences in levels of knowledge about fall prevention, the actual number of falls decreased. Implications of findings for discipline-specific and future fall prevention efforts are discussed