A new tool from the Royal College of Physicians (RCP), that enables ward staff to quickly assess a patient’s eyesight in order to help prevent them falling or tripping while in hospital, is being made available to Trusts and local health boards in England and Wales.
Look out! Bedside vision check for falls prevention aims to support clinical staff in assessing visual impairment in older people. It uses a mixture of questions and visual aids to help doctors, nurses and therapists check eyesight at the patient’s bedside. Results give an indication of the extent of any visual problems that the patient may have. The tool has been created through a collaboration between the RCP and the British and Irish Orthoptic Society, the College of Optometrists, the Royal College of Ophthalmologists, the Royal College of Nursing and NHS Improvement.
Created by medical professionals with expertise in vision and eye health, frontline staff and patients were involved in its design and testing. The tool provides a practical solution for all ward staff responsible for patient care. It is not intended to replace expert clinical assessment but, importantly, it can alert staff to potential concerns that can then be relayed to medical teams for further evaluation.
People are deemed as having a visual impairment when their level of vision is below that required to carry out normal everyday activities. Such people are almost twice as likely to fall, and to have recurrent falls and resultant fractures, than people with normal eyesight. Falls in hospital are the most commonly reported patient safety incidents, with more than 600 a day happening in acute hospitals and mental health Trusts in England and Wales every year. Although there is no single cause of falls, poor vision in older people is often related to an increased risk.
In spite of this, the RCP’s most recent National Audit of Inpatient Falls revealed that less than half of older patients had a vision assessment when they went into hospital. This is thought to be due to clinicians struggling to find a workable, standardised approach to basic vision assessment that is achievable in an acute hospital setting. The tool is available to download from the RCP website at: www.rcplondon.ac.uk
