Evaluation of the effectiveness of an intervention in a health team to prevent falls in hospitalized elderly people.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the effectiveness of an intervention program in practices and behaviors of a health team to prevent falls in hos pitalized elderly people.

METHOD

This was an action, mixed-methods, and longitudinal study that applied an intervention based on TeamSTEPPS®, and organized into five domains: team training, communication, leadership, monitoring, and mutual support. The population was nurses and nursing aides who worked at the medical service of a Portuguese hospital center. Data were obtained by consulting process records and interviews, and by applying the Scale of Practices and Behaviors of Teams for Fall Prevention.

RESULTS

There was improvement in all indicators of the scale, with evident progress in discussion of risk factors and preventive measures to be implemented.

CONCLUSION

This intervention promoted decision-making regarding the preventive measures to be applied to each elderly person and improved communication and the interest in identifying the causes of falls to prevent their recurrence.