Table 2.

Preintervention Free-Response Consensus Themes of all Responses From the Survey^a

Free response 1. Please list any risk factors you think are associated with the recent increase in patient falls.
Representative themes	Representative quotes
Devices	“Service getting patients up by themselves and shutting alarms off, and then leaving the patient alone.” “Malfunctioning equipment (ie, patients being able to sit on the edge of the bed without alarms going off, etc.)” “Some risk factors include people forgetting to turn on the bed alarm, video monitoring missing patients trying to get up, and not putting all 4 side rails up for patients who continuously try to get out of bed.”
Patient population	“The greatest risk factor is the patient population that we service. Patients are confused and need close monitoring to reduce falls.” “Impulsive patients and bed alarms not going off (eg, if not plugged into the wall).” “Impulsivity of patients.”

Free response 2. Please summarize any ideas and/or interventions you think would help reduce inpatient falls.
Representative themes	Representative quotes
Education	“Educating the physicians on how to operate bed alarms, chair alarms, and call light access with reminder signs.” “Education on plugging bed into wall/how to set alarms and how to use chair alarm.” “Educate service physician teams on alerting nursing and getting the patient up with trained staff.”
Reminders	“Check list of important items to remember to check to prevent falls when leaving a patient’s room.” “Some people forget to turn on bed alarm and chair alarm.” “Find a way to remind staff of alarms more often.”

^aNote that free-response questions were administered with the quantitative survey questions.