Collaborative to focus on reducing falls in long-term care homes
Wednesday January 16, 2008 -- Deron Hamel
About half of all residents living in Canadian long-term care homes suffer falls each year. Falls lead to a decrease in quality of life and an increase in costs to the health-care system.

With this in mind, Safer Healthcare Now (SHN), a national campaign focused on increasing safety across all branches of the health-care sector, is partnering with the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO) to create information sessions in 2008 to promote best practices in falls prevention.

The Safer Healthcare Now website explains the role of the collaborative.

“This collaborative brings a unique perspective to quality improvement in that it is targeted to the long-term care sector, reinforces evidence-based approaches to this critical area of resident safety and is supported by national experts in falls prevention,” the site says.

Long-term care homes in Ontario and across Canada are invited to register for the learning sessions, which will be held on the following dates:

• Feb. 11-12 in Edmonton
• May 5-6 in Montreal
• Oct. 8-9 in Halifax
• Closing congress Feb. 9-10, 2009 in Toronto

Every long-term care home that registers for the sessions will work with the partnership to help implement best practices in falls prevention. Once enrolled, each long-term care home will commit 12 months to working with the collaborative.

The learning sessions will focus on three areas to make improvements, with an overall goal of reducing the numbers of falls in long-term care homes. The areas to be focused on are assessment, prevention and reduction of falls.

In an interview in July, Irmajean Bajnok, director of international affairs and best practice guidelines programs with the RNAO, noted that evidence has shown that if properly implemented, best practice guidelines can help an organization provide better care for patients or residents, as well as reduce some of their own costs.

“When you look at some of the outcomes . . . the evidence is there both in terms of positive outcomes for people as well as economic outcomes. This is something we really need to focus on,” she said. “There are some clear target areas that are very doable that will have a great impact, both people-wise and cost-wise.”

For more information or to register, contact Meagan Cleary, collaborative project manager at (416) 408-5638, ext. 261.

— with files from HIROC News