Falls prevention best practice guidelines for public hospitals and state government residential aged care facilities incorporating a community integration supplement

Developed by: Queensland Health
Format: A set of resources available on CD ROM or for download from the internet
Target audience: Community health, hospitals and residential aged care services

These guidelines provide an evidence-based approach to falls prevention. The best practice guidelines manual has been divided into a hospital and residential aged care services section, and a community supplement.

The best practice guidelines are available from the Queensland Health web site (external link).

A range of other resources for implementing falls prevention in the community, hospitals and residential aged care services is also available from Queensland Health web site (external link).

These include an implementation workbook, sample assessment tools, environmental audit tools, a safety checklist and guide, and research summaries.

Australian falls prevention project for hospitals and residential aged care facilities

In February 2004, the Australian Council for Safety and Quality in Health Care funded Queensland Health to promote a consistent national approach to the reduction of harm from falls occurring in older persons (aged 65 years and older). The project scope includes public and private Australian hospitals and residential aged care facilities. As part of this process a national guideline based on Queensland Health's 'Falls prevention best practice guidelines for public hospitals and state government residential aged care facilities' is being produced. The resources from this project, including updated guidelines and resources, will be available from the Queensland health web site (external link).

Availability: Go to the Queensland Health's website (external link) to download the guidelines and resources.