Comparing risk-adjusted inpatient fall rates internationally : validation of a risk-adjustment model using multicentre cross-sectional data from hospitals in Switzerland and Austria

© 2024. The Author(s)..

BACKGROUND: Inpatient falls in hospitals are an acknowledged indicator of quality of care. International comparisons could highlight quality improvement potential and enable cross-national learning. Key to fair cross-national comparison is the availability of a risk adjustment model validated in an international context. This study aimed to 1) ascertain that the variables of the inpatient fall risk adjustment model do not interact with country and thus can be used for risk adjustment, 2) compare the risk of falling in hospitals between Switzerland and Austria after risk adjustment.

METHODS: The data on inpatient falls from Swiss and Austrian acute care hospitals were collected on a single measurement day in 2017, 2018 and 2019 as part of an international multicentre cross-sectional study. Multilevel logistic regression models were used to screen for interaction effects between the patient-related fall risk factors and the countries. The risks of falling in hospital in Switzerland and in Austria were compared after applying the risk-adjustment model.

RESULTS: Data from 176 hospitals and 43,984 patients revealed an inpatient fall rate of 3.4% in Switzerland and 3.9% in Austria. Two of 15 patient-related fall risk variables showed an interaction effect with country: Patients who had fallen in the last 12 months (OR 1.49, 95% CI 1.10-2.01, p = 0.009) or had taken sedatives/psychotropic medication (OR 1.40, 95% CI 1.05-1.87, p = 0.022) had higher odds of falling in Austrian hospitals. Significantly higher odds of falling were observed in Austrian (OR 1.38, 95% CI 1.13-1.68, p = 0.002) compared to Swiss hospitals after applying the risk-adjustment model.

CONCLUSIONS: Almost all patient-related fall risk factors in the model are suitable for a risk-adjusted cross-country comparison, as they do not interact with the countries. Further model validation with additional countries is warranted, particularly to assess the interaction of risk factors "fall in the last 12 months" and "sedatives/psychotropic medication intake" with country variable. The study underscores the crucial role of an appropriate risk-adjustment model in ensuring fair international comparisons of inpatient falls, as the risk-adjusted, as opposed to the non-risk-adjusted country comparison, indicated significantly higher odds of falling in Austrian compared to Swiss hospitals.

Medienart:

E-Artikel

Erscheinungsjahr:

2024

Erschienen:

2024

Enthalten in:

Zur Gesamtaufnahme - volume:24

Enthalten in:

BMC health services research - 24(2024), 1 vom: 13. März, Seite 331

Sprache:

Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:

Bernet, Niklaus S [VerfasserIn]
Everink, Irma H J [VerfasserIn]
Hahn, Sabine [VerfasserIn]
Bauer, Silvia [VerfasserIn]
Schols, Jos M G A [VerfasserIn]

Links:

Volltext

Themen:

Accidental falls
Benchmarking
Cross-sectional studies
Hospitals
Hypnotics and Sedatives
Inpatients
Journal Article
Multicenter Study
Multilevel analysis
Quality assurance
Quality of health care
Risk adjustment

Anmerkungen:

Date Completed 15.03.2024

Date Revised 16.03.2024

published: Electronic

Citation Status MEDLINE

doi:

10.1186/s12913-024-10839-x

funding:

Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):

NLM369709977