In 2001 James A. Haley VA Hospital (JAHVAH) became the 1^st Magnet designated VA hospital. Additionally, JAHVAH’s Patient Safety Center of Inquiry worked in conjunction with The VA National Center for Patient Safety (NCPS) and others to develop the falls toolkit, making JAHVAH a national leader in patient safety. As we continue our journey toward excellence in Nursing, we have been able to utilize the National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators (NDNQI) to benchmark many nursing sensitive indicators. One such indicator, and the focus of this presentation, is the patient fall rate. Reducing the risk of patient harm resulting from falls has been identified as National Patient Safety Goal #9 by the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO). The following are educational objectives of this presentation: identify resources to reduce harm from falls including innovations, toolkits, and evidence based practice; identify approaches across the continuum of care; and describe evaluations to assess program effectiveness. The purpose of the presentation is to share knowledge constructed from data collection and reporting, data analysis, and the resultant conclusions. As patient safety is an inherent nursing priority, it is imperative that Nursing’s leadership community reflect upon past achievements and continue to challenge the discipline to extend the culture of safety to all areas of patient vulnerabilities. This presentation shall:

• Provide an overview of National Patient Safety Goal #9-Falls
  
• Rethink falls prevention to reduce harm from falls
  
• Offer innovations, tools, collaborative information, evidence
  
• Describe the falls prevention programs across the continuum of care
  
• Evaluate the effectiveness of programs implemented to reduce harm from falls.
  

By utilizing NDNQI benchmarks to establish evidenced based practice, potential resources can be uncovered which will continue to improve patient outcomes.