Characteristics of hospitalized cancer patients who fall

Abstract

Fall prevention for hospitalized patients is an important nursing quality indicator. Current studies do not describe characteristics of hospitalized patients with cancer who fall, although these patients have been noted to have higher fall and injury rates. This descriptive study represents an initial attempt to identify characteristics of patients hospitalized with cancer who fall compared with adult medical-surgical hospitalized patients who fall. We found that many characteristics of our sample were similar to those of other patients who had experienced a fall during their hospitalization.