Survey of falls of inpatients at the Ryde Hospital in 1986.

Objective: To outline the findings of one survey, and to raise some general issues about falls.
Method: A retrospective survey of all recorded inpatient falls in 1986.
Results: There were 74 falls recorded in 1986, which gave an incidence rate of 0.184 falls per hundred bed days. Due to the lack of data on falls from other local hospitals, no meaningful comparison can be made. Not unexpectedly, the elderly were at greatest risk of falling, and the most common type of fall was from bed. Most falls caused no major injuries.