Table 2.
Association Between Patient Factors, Fall Type, and Fall Outcome
| Fall Type (n = 353) | Fall Outcome (n = 352)* | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Patient Factor | Level | Assisted, n (%) | Unassisted, n (%) | p value† | Non-Injurious, n (%) | Injurious, n (%) | p value† |
| Age Category | 81+ | 31 (21.2) | 115 (78.8) | .053 | 90 (61.6) | 56 (38.4) | .02 |
| 65–80 | 29 (23.8) | 93 (76.2) | 82 (67.2) | 40 (32.8) | |||
| 19–64 | 30 (35.3) | 55 (64.7) | 67 (79.8) | 17 (20.2) | |||
| Gender | Male | 34 (21.4) | 125 (78.6) | .11 | 105 (66.5) | 53 (33.5) | .60 |
| Female | 56 (28.9) | 138 (71.1) | 134 (69.1) | 60 (30.9) | |||
| Cognitively Impaired‡ | No | 57 (38.3) | 92 (61.7) | < .001 | 101 (68.2) | 47 (31.8) | .91 |
| Yes | 33 (16.2) | 171 (83.8) | 138 (67.6) | 66 (32.4) | |||
| Weak§ | No | 36 (23.2) | 119 (76.8) | .39 | 107 (69.5) | 47 (30.5) | .58 |
| Yes | 54 (27.3) | 144 (72.7) | 132 (66.7) | 66 (33.3) | |||
| Incontinent§ | No | 84 (26.7) | 231 (73.3) | .15 | 215 (68.5) | 99 (31.5) | .51 |
| Yes | 6 (15.8) | 32 (84.2) | 24 (63.2) | 14 (36.8) | |||
| Anti-coagulant§ | No | 87 (26.4) | 242 (73.6) | .15 | 219 (66.8) | 109 (33.2) | .11 |
| Yes | 3 (12.5) | 21 (87.5) | 20 (83.3) | 4 (16.7) | |||
| Medications Increase Fall Riskǁ | No | 7 (20.0) | 28 (80.0) | .39 | 24 (68.6) | 11 (31.4) | .88 |
| Yes | 73 (26.8) | 199 (73.2) | 183 (67.3) | 89 (32.7) | |||
| Bed Type | Not Skilled¶ | 59 (22.9) | 199 (77.1) | .054 | 174 (67.7) | 83 (32.3) | .95 |
| Skilled | 31 (33.0) | 63 (67.0) | 64 (68.1) | 30 (31.9) | |||
| Bed Type | Acute | 55 (23.3) | 181 (76.7) | .10 | 164 (69.8) | 71 (30.2) | .12 |
| Hospice | 0 (0.0) | 8 (100.0) | 3 (37.5) | 5 (65.2) | |||
| Skilled | 31 (33.0) | 63 (67.0) | 64 (68.1) | 30 (31.9) | |||
| Observation | 4 (28.6) | 10 (71.4) | 7 (50.0) | 7 (50.0) | |||
| Fall Time | 22:00–03:59 | 11 (14.1) | 67 (85.9) | .048 | 52 (66.7) | 26 (33.3) | .57 |
| 04:00–09:59 | 28 (32.2) | 59 (67.8) | 63 (72.4) | 24 (27.6) | |||
| 10:00–15:59 | 24 (25.3) | 71 (74.7) | 66 (69.5) | 29 (30.5) | |||
| 16:00–21:59 | 25 (28.7) | 62 (71.3) | 54 (62.8) | 32 (37.2) | |||
| Fall Location | In Bathroom | 18 (23.7) | 58 (76.3) | .68 | 40 (53.3) | 35 (46.7) | .002 |
| Not in Bathroom | 72 (26.0) | 205 (74.0) | 199 (71.8) | 78 (28.2) | |||
| Fall Related to Toileting# | No | 45 (22.2) | 158 (77.8) | .10 | 148 (72.9) | 55 (27.1) | .02 |
| Yes | 45 (30.0) | 105 (70.0) | 91 (61.1) | 58 (38.9) | |||
*Injury was unspecified for one fall
†p value calculated using Pearson Chi-Square Test or Exact Pearson Chi-Square Test
‡Includes the three contributing patient factors of “cognitive impairment,” “impulsive behavior,” or “overestimated ability”
§Identified as a contributing patient factor on the reporting form
ǁAt the time of the fall, the patient was deemed to be on medication known to increase the risk of fall
¶Includes patients in acute, hospice, and observation beds at the time of the fall
#Fall was categorized as being related to toileting if the hospital checked “toileting/on commode w/assistance,” “toileting/on commode w/o assistance,” “ambulating to bathroom w/assistance,” “ambulating to bathroom w/o assistance,” or “dressing/undressing related to toileting,” in response to the question “Prior to the fall, what was the patient doing or trying to do?”