Simulation of the Effect of Nurse Staffing and Rotation on the Prevention of In-Hospital Fall Accidents

Abstract

Patients’ falls and fall-related incidents account for approximately 24% of all medical accidents, emphasizing the need for enhanced preventive measures. Traditional fall risk assessments do not consider nursing systems and impose a significant operational burden. In this study, we developed a simulation program that replicates hospital nursing systems and fall duration, analyzing the relationship between the number of nurses and fall duration.The simulation results showed that as the number of nurses increased, fall duration decreased. However, the effectiveness plateaued when the number exceeded eight nurses. Additionally, the distribution of fall duration followed a log-normal distribution, allowing it to be formulated as a cost-performance optimization problem. As a result, the optimal number of nurses per floor was suggested to be between six and eight.Future research will incorporate nurse patrol routes and skill differences into the simulation to improve its applicability to real hospital environments. Collaborating with medical safety managers, we aim to develop and implement highly practical fall prevention measures.

Keywords: Fall prevention, Patient safety, Nurse allocation, Nursing system, Simulation program

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1006568