Falling risks in ICUs: critical care nurses’ performance and patients’ outcomes

Background Literature review cited that, patients’ falls are one of the most common adverse events in ICUs, resulting in devastating physical and psychological outcomes, in addition to increasing the length of hospital stay and costs. Therefore, the emphasis on falling assessment and prevention is a key priority. Aim To assess critical care nurses’ performance and patients’ outcomes regarding falling risks in the ICUs. Research questions To fulfill the aim of this study three research questions were formulated. Setting Two ICUs affiliated to Cairo University Hospital. Sample A sample of convenience of all male and female nurses working in the selected critical care units (54 nurses) regardless of their personal characteristics. In addition to a purposive sample consisting of (82) critically ill patients throughout a period of 6 months were included in the study. Tools Six main tools were used to collect data of the current study. Results The current study revealed that the majority of the studied nurses were females, technical nursing school graduates, in the age group of 25–30 years, have less than 5 years of experience in nursing field and ICU, did not attend any training programs about falling in percentages of 72.2, 96.3, 57.4, 57.4,81.5, and 100%, respectively. As well, more than three quarters of nurses had unsatisfactory knowledge and practice in percentages of 79.6 and 81%, respectively. As regards to the studied patients; they were in common males, in the age group of greater than or equal to 60 years old, fully conscious, have a past medical history of hypertension, a moderate risk for falling, and a length of stay of 1–7 days in percentages of 62.2, 46.3, 59.8, 26.8, 70.7, and 42.7%, respectively, the most prevalent contributing risk factors of falling were the use of patient care equipment (75%). Falling incidence occurred for only one (1.2%) patient and complication was in the form of skin bruises (1.2%). Conclusion Although only one fall was reported, the study identified significant deficiency in critical care nurses’ knowledge and practice regarding fall prevention. Recommendation Further studies have to be carried out in order to assess the effect of implementing a training program on the quality of nursing care and the patients outcomes related to falling.