​The Agency for Healthcare Research and Prevention (AHRQ) has released a fall prevention training program, developed with input from 10 hospitals that tested the program and reported decreases in their falls and falls-with-injury rates during the two-year pilot of the program. The training program is based on AHRQ's toolkit for preventing falls in hospitals and consists of five modules about fall prevention. The training program includes a training curriculum, resources for each module, and companion webinars. ECRI Institute was part of the team that developed and oversaw the training program at the 10 hospitals. Data from the 10 hospitals showed a 14% decrease in the average number of falls and a 20% decrease in falls-with-injury rates during the one-year period after the training was conducted. The reductions were even greater for rehabilitation and geriatric/psychiatric units. The training program also includes an implementation guide with strategies and resources for hospitals using AHRQ's fall prevention training program and associated toolkit.

HRC Recommends: Falls are a high-volume, high-risk, high-cost challenge for healthcare facilities. Staff education is essential to the success of a falls management program. Organizations often identify incomplete staff orientation and training as one of several factors that contribute to an event involving a patient fall. All clinical and nonclinical staff should attend a mandatory in-service program describing the purpose and goals of the falls management program. The program should also be tailored to specific employee groups; for example, a program for nonclinical staff such as housekeeping would be different from a program tailored to clinicians.