Clinical Experience of Maintaining Patient Safety in Hospital

NCT06738316 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: 24065
• Study Type: observational
• Target: 53
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 3

Brief Summary

The key purpose of the study is to establish what the barriers to preventing accidental falls in hospital are, what interventions are perceived to work best in preventing falls and what could help. The study will attempt to disprove the null hypothesis that "there is no universal clinical experience of accidental fall prevention in hospitals with patients who have impaired cognitive function". To gather an evidence base for the co-created design and testing of fall prevention interventions as part of the longer term PhD project.This is a multi-centre qualitative study utilising a purposive sampling strategy. Healthcare workers directly involved in preventing falls in hospital will be invited to contribute to the study via an email from their ward manager or clinical lead. Participants will be asked to respond directly to the investigator to indicate their interest in the study. They will be selected to ensure both Medical and Surgical wards are represented. Overall aim will be for up to 16 participants from the nursing team, registered and unregistered, up to 8 therapist participants and up to 8 doctors.This will provide 2 nurses, 1 therapist, 1 doctor in each simulation. This will provide 4 datasets for analysis and this process will be repeated at up to 4 Hospitals to deliver up to 16 datasets. Each group will participate in a 30 minute simulation followed by a semi structured focus group where critical decision method will be used to extract themes and codes to inductively generate a questionnaire for a further study. Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) representatives will be consulted on the outcomes of the focus groups.

Conditions

Patient Safety

Keywords

Patient Safety; Fall prevention in hospitals; healthcare workers; simulation; focus group; critical decision method

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• To disprove the null hypothesis that "there is no universal clinical experience of accidental fall prevention in hospitals with patients who have impaired cognitive function".

  Up to 32 multidisciplinary participants in each of 3 NHS Trusts will take part in a simulation of a ward based patient safety incident. They will then debate how closely this resembles their lived experience of managing patient safety in a ward environment. From this themes and codes will be analysed and the outcomes tested via questionnaire feedback from a larger broader population of healthcare workers. the questionnaire will be distributed to 4000 healthcare workers across the country. Statistical analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data will disprove or prove the null hypothesis.

  September 2025

Secondary Outcomes (2)

• To inductively generate a questionnaire to be distributed to healthcare professionals and care workers in a future study.

  September 2025

• To gather an evidence base for the co-created design and testing of fall prevention interventions as part of the longer term PhD project

  April 2026

Study Arms (1)

Healthcare Worker Focus Groups

Self nominated participants from various healthcare worker professions and jobs. Doctors, Nurses, Therapists and Support Staff

Behavioral: Simulation

Interventions

Simulation BEHAVIORAL

Simulation of a patient safety incident in practice. The simulation closely replicates the workplace experience.

Healthcare Worker Focus Groups

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)
• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Healthcare professionals involved in the management or care of patients who are at risk of accidental falls in hospitals.

You may qualify if:

• Any healthcare professional or associated support staff involved in the fall risk assessment of patients on admission to a standard care ward environment in hospital
• Any healthcare professional or associated support staff involved in the multifactorial assessment of patients in an acute ward environment
• Any healthcare professional or associated support staff involved in putting fall prevention measures in place in an acute ward environment
• Any healthcare professional or associated support staff involved in caring for patients and their relatives after an accidental fall in an acute ward environment
• Ability to give informed consent

You may not qualify if:

• Any healthcare worker with no medical or surgical ward experience
• Any healthcare worker under the age of 18 years old
• Any healthcare worker working exclusively in Critical Care or high dependency units or Paediatrics as countermeasures and levels of observation are different in these areas and have separate guidance and policies.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Nottingham: lead

Study Sites (3)

University Hospitals of Leicester

Leicester, LE1 5WW, United Kingdom

Location

Nottingham University Hospitals

Nottingham, NG7 2UH, United Kingdom

Location

Northern Care Alliance, Rochdale Care Organisation

Salford, M6 8HD, United Kingdom

Location

Study Design

• Study Type: observational
• Observational Model: ECOLOGIC OR COMMUNITY
• Time Perspective: PROSPECTIVE
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: December 12, 2024
• First Posted: December 17, 2024
• Study Start: January 9, 2025
• Primary Completion: April 30, 2025
• Study Completion: April 30, 2025
• Last Updated: November 26, 2025

Record last verified: 2024-11

Locations

GB (3)