Accidental falls are a serious yet underreported form of adverse event in hospitals. Falls account for the leading cause of injury and mortality among older adults. The World Health Organization (WHO) in 2021 reported that an estimated 64,000 individuals die annually from falls globally. In the Philippines, about 53.6% of older Filipinos are experiencing falls from a small population-specific setting and they are more likely to experience functional declines than the younger population. The radiology departments and radiologic technologists (RTs) play a vital role in preventing accidental falls among Filipino older adult patients. Despite the existing safety standards promulgated by national health agencies, awareness of healthcare professionals such as radiologic technologists (RTs) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) such as the Philippines remains limited. As such, promoting a safety culture is deemed a main strategy for patient safety from adverse occurrences of falls among Filipino older adults. In doing so, there is a need to establish an incident reporting system for sentinel events, develop risk assessment tools, and define the needed competencies of RTs in preventing catastrophic falls involving Filipino older adult patients. To the authors' knowledge, this paper is the first of its kind to better understand the safety and predisposing risks for falling among older adults in the field of radiology in the Philippines.
Keywords: Adverse event; Falls; Filipino older adult patients; Patient safety; Radiologic technologist.
Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier Inc.