Table 2.
Unit and hospital characteristics of low- and high-fall medical units
| Unit characteristics (n=154) | Low-Fall (n=80) | High-Fall (n=74) | p-value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Patient days (thousands) [mean (SD)] | 17.0 (5.9) | 19.5 (5.5) | .01a |
| Fallers at risk (% of falls by at-risk patients) [mean (SD)] | 73.5 (22.1) | 70.1 (23.9) | .34a |
| Total nursing hours per patient day [mean (SD)] | 8.1 (1.8) | 8.4 (1.3) | .20a |
| RN mix (% hours provided by RNs) [mean(SD)] | 62.5 (12.6) | 63.6 (6.8) | .59a |
| Hospital characteristics (n=126) | Low-Fall (n=62) | High-Fall (n=64) | p-value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bed size (% with 300+ beds) | 62.9 | 57.8 | .56b |
| Teaching status | .60b | ||
| Academic medical center (%) | 19.4 | 14.1 | |
| Regular teaching (%) | 43.6 | 51.6 | |
| Non-teaching (%) | 37.1 | 34.4 | |
| Locale (%metropolitan) | 93.6 | 93.8 | .96b |
| Census division | .09b | ||
| Northeast (%) | 37.1 | 18.8 | |
| South (%) | 38.7 | 50.0 | |
| Midwest (%) | 11.3 | 20.3 | |
| West (%) | 12.9 | 10.9 | |
| Medicare case mix index [mean (SD)] | 1.6 (0.2) | 1.6 (0.2) | .24a |
Notes: SD = standard deviation. RN = registered nurse. Percentages may not sum to 100.0 due to rounding.
a
P-value from Wilcoxon two-sample test.
b
P-value from Chi-square test of association.