Page 46 - FALL GUIDELINES MOH 2019

FALLS AUDIT TOOLS (Refer to Appendix 4)

Audit tools should be designed to assess the flow of care and the adherence of staff to falls
intervention practices.

FITs in each facility must decide which elements require auditing.

In measuring key practices, data can be obtained from a number of sources. Each approach
has its strengths and limitations:
 Direct observation of care (where a trained observer determines, for example, whether
a patient‘s call bell or walking aid is within reach) will be the most accurate approach for
certain care processes, but this can be time consuming.
 Surveys may be helpful in certain circumstances, but rely on staff members’ recall of
specific events, which might be inaccurate.
 Review of medical records is the easiest approach to complete, but rely on what is
documented in the records (and much care for fall prevention may not be documented).

AUDITORS

Ideally an auditor should:
 Be someone familiar with falls intervention processes, the forms used and the overall
chart layout
 The audit should ideally be carried out by an external party
 Not audit their own work
 Have some training or guidance provided (to ensure consistency in application of
organization-specific criteria).

43

43