Abstract
Falls are a major public health problem, the consequences from which can be costly. Within the literature little consideration appears to have been given to exploring the patient experience of falling whilst in hospital and the experience of healthcare staff in regard to inpatient falls.
The aim of this dissertation was to explore the experiences and perceptions from patients and healthcare staff following an in-patient fall. An integrative literature review was carried out using Whittemore and Knafl's (2005) methodology. A literature search was conducted in the following databases: PubMed, the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), PsychInfo, Google Scholar and Medline Ovid. The keywords for the search included in-patient falls, healthcare staff, experience and perception. Eight highly relevant publications were identified and following quality appraisal using Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI, 2015) validated tools, eight articles remained for data analysis. Three themes emerged from the analysis; Emotional impact of falls; Communication; Independence versus Risk.
The findings highlighted areas in which the patients and healthcare staff reported a negative impact on their emotional well-being as a result of an in-patient fall. Timely assistance and support when needed was presented from the patient's perspective throughout the literature. Communication was considered to be a key aspect in keeping the patient safe as the healthcare staff balanced work levels and patients' care needs. The patients need for independence balanced with necessary and unnecessary risk-taking behaviours was a concern to both the patient and to the staff. Through promoting appropriate levels of independence and clear communication of risks, improvement could be achieved in the provision of safe care.