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.
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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".
Timeframe: September 2025