About the Preventing Falls in Hospitals programme
Falls are the most commonly reported type of patient safety incident in healthcare. Around 250,000 patients fall in acute and community hospitals each year (NHS England, National Reporting and Learning System, 2013, 2014). Over 800 hip fractures and about 600 other fractures are reported. There are 130 deaths associated with falls. Although most falls do not result in injury, patients can have psychological and mobility problems as a result of falling.
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence Falls: assessment and prevention of falls in older people, 161 (2013) guidelines now include patients admitted to hospital highlighting the need to address falls.
The modules: module one for hospital based nurses, and module two for foundation level doctors provide interactive information about patient and environmental falls risk factors, the patient assessment, and post fall management.
Both modules have been designed to complement, not replace, your local falls prevention policies and processes: you must always work within them.
Project structure
You can find out more about each module by selecting the modules below.
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Module 1
Preventing Falls - Audience: hospital based nursesModule 1
Preventing Falls – Audience: hospital based nurses
This course has been revised in 2015 by the Royal College of Physicians, and the NHS England Patient Safety Lead, older people and falls.
New for 2015 is an interactive tool to identify environmental risk factors.
It covers patient risk factors (cardiovascular, balance, confusion, bone health, medication, vision and toileting); environmental risk factors (patient environment, special equipment and special observation) and what to do after a fall. It concludes with a case-study based exam, which requires a score of 75% to pass.
With the support of resources, glossary, nurse viewpoints and clinical videos, in this interactive course, you will:
- Explore why falls are not inevitable
- Understand the impact of falls on your patients
- Recognise the importance of balancing patient safety, independence, rehabilitation and dignity, including patient choice
- Learn how to identify and act on patient risk factors to reduce the likelihood of falls
- Identify environmental risk factors and create a safer environment
- Explore clinical tasks related to falls prevention
It has been developed primarily for registered nurses working in acute or community hospitals, but any staff member with an interest in falls prevention can use it.
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Module 2
CareFall - Audience: hospital based foundation level 1 and 2 doctorsModule 2
CareFall – Audience: hospital based foundation level 1 and 2 doctor
The course has been funded by NHS England. It was developed by the Royal College of Physicians, and supported by NHS England.
In March 2015 the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) endorsed the course with the following statement:
This CareFall eLearning package supports most of the recommendations within Falls: assessment and prevention of falls in older people. In addition, it also supports the recommendations relating to adult in-patients with Head Injury. It is also in line with the statements on analgesia and surgery in the Quality Standard for Hip Fracture.
The course contains case-studies for you to work through, and prompts you to think what to do next using stop/start videos. It asks you to set your own objectives and to reflect on what you have learnt once it is completed.
The aim of this course is to give you the knowledge to identify risk factors for inpatient falls and how to reduce them, to safely give guidance on moving patients if they have fallen and assess them for a serious injury.
With the support of resources, case studies and clinical videos, in this interactive course, you will:
- Explore why falls are not inevitable part of ageing
- Understand the impact of falls on your patients
- Learn how to identify and act on patient risk factors to reduce the likelihood of falls
- Identify environmental risk factors and create a safer environment
- Explore clinical tasks related to post fall management and falls reduction.
It has primarily been developed for foundation level doctors working in acute or community hospitals, but other staff members with an interest in falls risk reduction can use it.
How to access
In order to access the Preventing Falls programme, you will need an elfh account. If you do not have one, then you can register by selecting the Register button below.
To view the Preventing Falls programme, select the View button below. If you already have an account with elfh, you will also be able to login and enrol on the programme from the View button.
NHS healthcare staff in England
The Preventing Falls programme is also available to NHS healthcare staff via the Electronic Staff Record (ESR). Accessing this elearning via ESR means that your completions will transfer with you throughout your NHS career.
Further details are available here.
Not an NHS organisation?
If you are not an NHS health or care organisation and therefore do not qualify for free access elfh Hub, you may be able to access the service by creating an OpenAthens account.
To check whether or not you qualify for free access via OpenAthens, you can view the eligibility criteria and register on the ‘OpenAthens’ portal.
Registering large numbers of users
If you are a HR, IT or Practice Manager and would like to register and enrol large numbers of staff within your organisation for access onto the Preventing Falls programme, please contact elfh directly.
Organisations wishing to use their own LMS
For HR departments wanting to know more about gaining access to courses using an existing Learning Management System please contact elfh directly to express interest.
Preventing Falls is also available at:
- Learning@Wales https://learning.wales.nhs.uk/
More information
Please select the following link for more information on how to use the elfh Hub.