Evidence Levels: Applied to Select Fall and Fall Injury Prevention Practices.

Problem: Rehabilitation nurses know the impact of injury on function, independence, and quality of life, complicated by age-related changes associated with decreased strength, endurance, reserve, frailty, and social and financial resources. Multidisciplinary teams are essential to provide expert, age specific health care delivery to this vulnerable population across settings of care.

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to apply level of evidence rating scales to identify the best practice interventions to prevent falls on rehabilitation units.

Key Findings And Clinical Relevance: The evidence supports the importance of determining specific risk factors and initiating multifactorial fall risk factors tailored to the individual. Yet, little evidence exists for single interventions, universal fall prevention strategies, and population-specific fall prevention strategies. A review of the literature confirms the effectiveness of many fall prevention practices and interventions remains insufficient. Of particular concern are rehabilitation units in hospitals that have higher fall rates compared to other acute units.