ICO wants to prevent the patients from falling

The Direcció de Recursos Sanitaris del Departament de Salut* has promoted, since November 2005, an ‘Alliance for the Patients’s Safety’.

The aim of this project is to increase safety for patients of the Catalan sanitary system in all its areas. ICO participates actively in this initiative. This Alliance includes a series of specific projects. Among other aspects, elements like the appropriate identification of the patients, the prevention of nosocomial infections or the analysis of the incidence of errors on the medicines (in which the Pharmacy Service at ICO in Hospitalet has participated) have been considered.
One of the projects focuses on preventing falls. ICO has worked together with 21 hospitals and 12 social-sanitary centres from all over Catalonia. During the eight months that the study has lasted, we have encouraged the training of sanitary staff, better signaling and notices to say when the floor is slippery have been put, and the falls that occurred have beeb analysed. As a result of the analysis, we have observed that 85% of the patients admitted in ICO are under risk of falling, since a cancer patient is a complex patient. Besides, we have observed that an average 4.1 falls occur per one thousand days of admission.