Patricia C. Dykes, RN, DNSc Ann C. Hurley, RN, DNSc, FAAN Diane L. Carroll, RN, PhD, FAAN Blackford Middleton, MD, MPH, MSc

Patient falls and falls with injury are serious preventable problems in hospitals and are among the measures employed as standard metrics of the quality of nursing care; they are included in both The National Quality Forum (NQF) National Voluntary Consensus Standards for Hospital Care: An Initial Performance Measure Set and The Institute for Healthcare Improvement�s National Patient Safety Goals. Injuries and death associated with patient falls while being cared for in a health care facility are classifi ed by the NQF as �serious reportable events�.