The Joint Commission will be defining fall events in their Sentinel Event Policy starting January 1, 2021 to help address the need for more preventive fall measures. This new definition will be more closely aligned with established guidelines from the National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators™ and the National Quality Forum.
The new definition will state, “Fall event – Fall resulting in any of the following: any fracture; surgery, casting, or traction; required consult/management or comfort care for a neurological (for example, skull fracture, subdural or intracranial hemorrhage) or internal (for example, rib fracture, small liver laceration) injury; or a patient with coagulopathy who receives blood products as a result of the fall; death or permanent harm as a result of injuries sustained from the fall (not from physiologic events causing the fall).”
More information can be found at: