Designing a falls prevention strategy that works.

In implementing an evidence-based falls prevention strategy in acute care, planners are frequently pressed to meet organizational targets while allowing staff flexibility to match interventions with patient population needs and clinical realities. We describe the process of how one hospital creatively used evidence, systems change, staff engagement, expert consultation, policy and protocols, staff and patient education, marketing, and celebration to design and implement a falls prevention strategy on 60 clinical units that reduced annual fall rates by 20%.