Cost analysis of patient falls in University and public hospitals in İzmir

APurpose: The purpose of this stuy was to estimate additionl cost of serious falls in university and public hospitals in İzmir and evaluate the factors which affecting the cost of health care due to fall. Method: A retrospective case-contol study was conducted 28 university and public hospitals in İzmir. Thirty-nine patients who experience serious fall (resulting in serious injury or death) were matched with thirty-nine controls by diagnosis, gender, age (±5) and type of admission to hospital. Case and control groups patients' length of hospital stay and hospital costs were compared with method of comparison group. For the evaluation of data descriptive statistics, independent samples t tests, Mann Whitney U tests and multiple regression analaysis were used. Findings: Examined a total of 1622 fall report with study. %69,2 of the serious falls occurred in 60 years and older patients, %46,2 in the first five days of hospitalization, %53,8 at night shift, %35,9 in bathroom and toilet of clinic and %30,8 by slide. The lenght of hospital stay was increased 14.61 days due to serious falls. Serious fall-related additional hospital cost was calculated 8726,94 TL. A multiple regression analaysis show that 'have an operation (for the treatment of severe injuries which occurred due to falls)' and 'being treated at the university hospital' are affect the cost of hospitalization of patients who experience a serious fall. Conclusion: Acording to study results, serious falls in hospitals lead to increasing hospital duration and hospital costs. The hospital managers must do cost effectiveness analysis of evidence based fall prevetion practices and chose the most cost effective practice for implementation. Key words: Patient falls, cost, hospital, nurse