Technology Supported Fall Prevention in Hospitals TechSIMPAFiH v1.0
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Technology Supported Improvement, Management and Prevention of Accidental Falls in Hospitals
IRAS ID
361380
Contact name
Alexandra Lang
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Nottingham
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
000, 000
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 11 months, 31 days
Research summary
The multi-centre study will involve up to 2 wards on each of up to 2 Trust sites that already use fall prevention alarms. The study wards will be randomly selected from a group of wards that have indicated they are happy to be considered as potential research wards. An ethnographic case study with contextual enquiry design will be used to allow a contextual analysis of fall prevention in practice and consider how staff decisions and behaviour contribute to this. The study will use observations of care in clinical practice, an anonymous questionnaire and retrospective data extraction. Using their current fall prevention measures assisted by their existing technology will illustrate outcomes with specific and transparent definitions of what constitutes a fall. Calculations of falls occurring measured with local live data will be compared with current standard measurements (Falls/1000 occupied bed days) as calculated with central occupancy data.
The ward team, patients and relatives attending the wards will have an opportunity to complete a questionnaire about the use of fall prevention technology. This will be advertised in the ward environment on fliers and posters as permitted by policy and return of questionnaire will be taken as informed consent.
Retrospective review of fall incident reports prior to and and since installation of the technology, cross referenced with clinical notes will identify contextual themes to aid accurate analysis. This data will be extracted in retrospective records but no patient identifiable data will be retained or recorded. No confidential patient information will be retained or removed from site.The analysis will not be concerned with service user information but will identify themes that may identify areas of focus for future technology design, research and use of technology in fall prevention.
REC name
North West - Greater Manchester South Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
26/NW/0007
Date of REC Opinion
15 Jan 2026
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion