Methods. CalNOC methods are fully described elsewhere (Aydin et al., 2004). The overall baseline was drawn from May 1998 through June 2001 data submitted by 73 CalNOC hospitals, of which 33 hospitals subsequently joined the CalNOC Partners to Reduce Patient Falls Project. A proxy for hospital size, average daily census across sites in this analysis was well distributed. Post implementation formative evaluation data for the 33 intervention hospitals includes both pre and preliminary post descriptive analyses and trends.

Findings at Baseline and Early Post Implementation Impact of Coaching Intervention on Falls. Of the 14,183 falls reported to CalNOC prior to implementation of this evidence-based practice project, 9957 (70%) were from medical/surgical units, 3518 (25%) were from step-down units, and 708 (5%) were from critical care units. Within the total sample, the patients' ages ranged from 0 (unknown) to 105 years, with a mean of 68.5 years. Fall risk assessment was documented on 71% of all patients in the sample, of whom 63% were identified as “at risk” for falling. Most of the falls (92%) were not coded as to their type of fall. When type of fall was coded, 58% of falls were accidental, 19% unanticipated physiologic and 23% anticipated physiologic falls (Morse, 1997). Across all unit types, the CalNOC mean fall rate was 3.2 and the rate of injuries was 0.11. Most injuries (89%) were rated as mild. Post-implementation formative evaluation analysis is now being conducted and will provide a pre, and preliminary post intervention formative evaluation of the target 33 target hospitals and 92 units studied.