Segurança do paciente e a prevenção de quedas: revisão narrativa

Abstract

Introduction: In Brazil, in 2013, the Ministry of Health (MS) established the National Patient Safety Program (PNSP) aiming to implement assistance, educational and programmatic measures and initiatives aimed at patient safety in different areas of care, organization and management of health services. In this context, according to the World Health Organization, falls represent the second leading cause of deaths from unintentional injuries worldwide, with around 684 thousand deaths recorded/year, of which more than 80% occur in countries low- and middle-income populations (WHO, 2021), being a topic that forms part of Patient Safety protocols. Objective: To describe patient safety and the main factors involved in the occurrence of falls, in light of scientific productions available from 2018 to 2022. Methodology: Narrative review, with a qualitative approach. Studies published in the vernacular language, whose focus is on the central theme that addresses falls, patient safety and nursing. The studies included were available free of charge in electronic form, complete, published in the Latin American and Caribbean Health Sciences Literature databases LILAC and Virtual Health Library/Nursing Database VHL/BDENF, from 2018 to 2023. The following descriptors in Health Sciences (DeCS) were used: patient safety; nurse; health care; falls. Incomplete articles, in a foreign language, and unavailable electronically were excluded; in duplicate, experience reports; master's dissertations and doctoral theses, as well as those published outside the established period and with themes unrelated to the intended objectives. Results and Discussion: The risks of falls associated with hospitalized elderly people, patient safety and the importance of managing these risks by healthcare teams were highlighted. The importance of using instruments and scales to identify the risk of falls to implement safer care activities was emphasized. The need to adopt health educational practices that reach the multidisciplinary team, users of health services and managers was highlighted. Final Considerations: In this study, the importance of professional nurses in providing health care to prevent falls in hospitalized elderly people became evident.