Authors (including presenting author) :
TANG CSJ(1), LAM CKK(2), CHAN WLW(2), TANG YCF(3), IP CYS(4), WATT YY(3), LAM SYG(4), LAM YHR(1)
Affiliation :
(1) Patient Resource Centre, Queen Mary Hospital
(2) Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong (3) Department of Surgery, Queen Mary Hospital
(4) Department of Clinical Oncology, Queen Mary Hospital
Keyword 1: :
Fall prevention
Keyword 2: :
Elderly inpatients
Keyword 3: :
Medical Social Collaboration
Keyword 4: :
Hospital to community transition
Keyword 5: :
Patient education
Introduction :
In Hong Kong, falls are a common cause of injury among the community-living elderly, in 2023, data from Department of Health showed that 15.7% of those aged 65 or older reported having fallen at least one time in the previous year, and approximately 9.8% of them sustained fractures (Elderly Health Centre, 2023), thus indicating that falls impose a heavy burden on the healthcare system. Queen Mary Hospital faces critical challenges in the field of fall prevention, including inconsistent fall risk screening, inadequate patient education on fall outcomes and post-discharge support.
Objectives :
This study aims to evaluate a short-term Fall Prevention Program addressing the following: (1) Implement a standardized fall risk screening tool in the ward (2) Provide bedside education to boost patients’ confidence level and knowledge about preventing falls (3) Establish the community referral pathways with NGOs in the Southern and Central and Western District.
Methodology :
This program was conducted from 3 November to 16 December 2025, and it targeted in-patients in A3 surgical and D2 clinical oncology wards at Queen Mary Hospital. Patient Resource Centre was in charge of screening 85 in-patients using an evidence-based screening tool adapted from the World Guidelines for Falls Prevention and Management (Montero-Odasso et al., 2022). Bedside education was facilitated with fall prevention guidebooks, short educational videos, and reminders about ward environmental hazards. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were employed for the analysis. The quantitative data were obtained from the result of pre- and post-education tests done by 43 patients (out of 85 screened), which assessed knowledge of fall prevention through 4 multiple-choice questions, and their confidence level by the 4 Likert-scale items. Verbal feedback was collected, and in-hospital falls and referrals were recorded.
Result & Outcome :
Patients' fall risks were evenly distributed across 3 risk levels: 34.1% low fall risk, 34.1% intermediate fall risk, 31.8% high fall risk. A significant improvement was found in knowledge score of fall prevention from 3.40 to 4.00 out of 4, resulting in an increase of 17.6%. Moreover, confidence score improved markedly by 26.7%, with the score data rising from 14.65 to 18.56 out of 20, indicating the substantial gain in understanding hospital measures and risk factors. As for the patients’ experience, verbal feedback was positive overall. No falls occurred in the participating wards during the program and five patients agreed at the time of ward intervention to be referred to the collaborating NGOs in the community for the continuous fall prevention education. Conclusion
This efficient and low-cost program significantly enhanced patients’ fall prevention knowledge and confidence while initiating an ongoing fall prevention support in the community. Large-scale implementation with long-term follow-up services by the QMH and NGOs is warranted to ensure the sustained impact on fall rates.
