Effect of Patient Fall Prevention Program on Nurses' Knowledge and the Number of Patient Falls in one of the Teaching Hospitals in Mashhad during 2019

Introduction: This study aimed to evaluate the effect of a patient fall prevention program on nurses’ knowledge and number of patients falls in one of the teaching hospitals in Mashhad, Iran. Materials and Methods: This quasi-experimental study was conducted on 600 nurses working in a hospital affiliated with Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran. The participants were selected via a proportionate stratification sampling method. The fall prevention program included two educational posters and a booklet that introduced key points regarding the prevention of patient falls based on the standard guidelines. The participants were asked to respond to a researcher-made questionnaire that measured their knowledge of patient fall prevention at pretest and posttest. The number of patient falls was evaluated before and after the prevention program. Data were analyzed using SPSS software (version 25) through descriptive and inferential (Wilcoxon test). A p-value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: There was a significant difference between the scores of pretest and posttest regarding the nurses’ knowledge (p <0.001). Moreover, the examination of the number of falls in three months before and after the patient fall prevention program showed a significant decrease (63%) in the patient falls. Conclusion: The results demonstrated that the provision of prevention programs in this study had a significant impact on the improvement of patient safety level by reducing the number of patient falls through increasing the knowledge of nurses and awareness of patients.