Background: Reduction of falls and fall-related injuries in hospital patients remains a priority. Consideration of technology via continuous video monitoring (CVM) is relevant for safe, quality care with favorable cost implications.
Local problem: Although fall rates were in the acceptable national safety standard guidelines, interventions were explored with the aim to further decrease falls using CVM.
Methods: The quality improvement project collected descriptive statistics. Run charts portrayed data trends for falls and injuries in 2-week increments over a 6-month period.
Interventions: Two-way cameras and a virtual sitter were used to observe fall risk patients.
Results: Implementation of CVM with virtual sitters depicted a 14% decline in fall rates and a 6% decrease in fall-related injury rates with positive budget implications.
Conclusion: Cost savings, fall rates, and fall injury rates all improved with the inception of video monitoring.
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