Table 3 Clinical practice recommendations

Fall Risk Assessments in SCI rehabilitation

 ■ Re-format fall risk assessment tools to encourage critical thinking and individualized plans

 ■ Consider a patient’s behavioral risk factors to predict fall risk

Fall Prevention Procedures in SCI rehabilitation

 ■ No blame reporting of fall incidents

 ■ Consider strategies to minimize injuries from falls

 ■ Establish consensus on documenting therapy falls that do not result in an injury and streamline reporting process

 ■ Adapt existing fall prevention strategies to increase applicability in SCI rehabilitation

 ■ Track falls during community passes to identify areas for additional fall prevention education

 ■ Re-design processes that have poor compliance

Fall Prevention Training/Education in SCI rehabilitation

 ■ Include SCI-specific fall risk factors when delivering fall prevention education

 ■ Prioritize fall prevention education in inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation

 ■ Educate patients with SCI on hospital and community fall risk factors

 ■ Include an informed risk taking and/or self-management approach to fall prevention training

 ■ Create a formal dialogue for fall prevention education

 ■ Ensure clinicians have the appropriate skills to deliver fall prevention education

Post-fall Procedure in SCI rehabilitation

 ■ Conduct formal reviews of fall trends and integrate findings into fall prevention education

 ■ Share fall trends with staff and encourage discussions on how to prevent similar occurrences

 ■ Identify the patients’ perspectives on contributing factors to falls

 ■ Leadership to continue encouraging a culture of learning from falls

 ■ Outline a clear process for clinicians to follow if a patient refuses the post-fall assessment