Predictive Analytics and Computer Visualization Enhances Patient Safety to Prevent Falls

Annually, in the United States there are 700,000 - 1,000,000 inpatient falls reported, and one-third of patients sustain an injury. The average estimated cost per fall is $6,694, resulting in over $1.4 -1.9 billion dollars in losses each year (AHRQ, 2017). This study aims to compare the impact of different fall prevention strategies on the rate of occurrence of falls and falls with injury in an academic medical center on three adult medical units. While maintaining the usual standard of care for fall prevention, each unit will add one of the following: (1) use of a fall risk alert to nurses using an algorithm based on electronic health record data or (2) computerized camera visualization or (3) a combination of both.