Risk of falls in patients in different hospital wards in light of physiotherapists’ opinions

Introduction: Among hospitalised patients, falls are the most frequently reported safety incident.Recurrent falls have various causes.Although they are unavoidable, 20-30% of falls are preventable.Aim of the research: The aim of the research was to get to know the opinion of physiotherapists about whether falls are a significant systemic problem in Poland, and to determine the risk of falls in hospital wards.Additionally, an attempt was made to assess the place in the hospital where patients most often fall.Material and methods: To conduct the study, an original survey questionnaire was prepared.It consisted of 11 questions and was published on Survio.com in May 2021.The study involved 155 physiotherapists: 97 (62.6%) women and 58 (37.4%) men.Quantitative and qualitative analysis of the obtained results was performed using Microsoft Excel Office 365 and the IBM SPSS Statistics.Differences in numbers between variables expressed on a nominal scale were analysed using the c 2 test, the Mann-Whitney U test, and the Kruskal-Wallis test with Dunn's post hoc test.In all tests used, results with a significance level of p < 0.05 were considered statistically significant.Results and conclusions: According to physiotherapists, patient falls in hospitals in Poland are a significant systemic problem.Physiotherapists determined that the risk of falling in the geriatric ward was high (p < 0.001), but low in the internal medicine ward (p < 0.001).It was indicated that the risk of falling is highest in the toilet and bathroom (p < 0.001), and an average risk exists in the patient's room and corridor (p < 0.001). StreszczenieWprowadzenie: Upadki to najczciej zgaszany incydent zwizany z bezpieczestwem wrd pacjentw hospitalizowanych.Powtarzajce si upadki zazwyczaj maj rne przyczyny.Mimo e s one nieuniknione, to 20-30% upadkom mona zapobiec.Cel pracy: Zapoznanie si z opini fizjoterapeutw, czy upadki to istotny problem systemowy w Polsce, oraz okrelenie ryzyka wystpienia upadku na poszczeglnych oddziaach szpitalnych