Factors Affecting Fall Incidents at Long-term Care Hospitals: Using Data from the Korea Patient Safety Reporting and Learning System

Objectives: The aim of this study is to identify patient characteristics and fall incident characteristics in long-term care hospitals and to identify factors affecting the types of fall incidents.Methods: Secondary data analysis was carried out using fall incident data from 2017 to 2021 from the Korea Patient Safety Reporting and Learning System. Statistics on the general characteristics of patients, characteristics of fall incidents, and types of fall incidents based on the presence of harm in long-term care hospitals were gathered. A total of 4,780 cases were analyzed.Results: The risk of harmful fall incidents was higher for patients in their 70s (odds ratio, OR = 1.34, 95% confidence interval, CI = 1.06-1.69) and 80s (OR = 1.50, 95% CI = 1.20-1.87) than for those in their 60s. The risk of harmful fall incidents for patients in family medicine departments was lower than for those in internal medicine departments (OR = 0.68, 95% CI = 0.55-0.84). The risk of harmful fall incidents for those with nervous system diseases (OR = 0.78, 95% CI = 0.62-0.98), respiratory and digestive system diseases (OR = 0.60, 95% CI = 0.39-0.95), and musculoskeletal system diseases (OR = 0.62, 95% CI = 0.45-0.86) was lower than that for patients whose main diagnosis was mental and behavioral disorders. The risk of harmful fall incidents for patients at long-term care hospitals with fewer than 200 beds (OR = 1.69, 95% CI = 1.17-2.43) and those with 200 to 499 beds (OR = 1.58, 95% CI = 1.21-2.07) was higher than that for patients at hospitals with 500 or more beds.Conclusions: Older patients diagnosed with mental and behavioral disorders should be considered at high risk for harmful falls. Thus, closer attention should be paid to them, and improvements in fall prevention strategies, especially in long-term care hospitals with fewer beds, are needed.