Fall without fracture admissions

Description

This indicator provides further insight into the relative levels of serious harm and acute hospital admission due to falls resulting in hospital admission but no fracture. A hospital admission indicated that there was a serious injury as a result of a fall. Serious injuries take longer to rehabilitate, which leads to a greater loss of independence and quality of life and increases use of health services.

Measure set

Falls and fractures

Fewer serious harm falls and fractures

Notes about this measure set

Type of fall injury is based on the first event in the stay.

Non-fracture: No fracture code recorded in diagnosis codes 1–30 (ie, ICD-10 codes S720* to S722*, S*2*, T02* and T12* are excluded)

Calculating stays

Consecutive events that together make a stay are calculated with a similar methodology to the Manatū Hauora system-level measure Acute Hospital Bed Days.
Events are considered part of the same stay if:

the NHI was the same
the previous event had a transfer end type (DA, DF, DO, DP, DT, DW or ET)
the end date of the previous event was before or within 1 day of the next event
there was an external cause code of a fall (W00–W19) that occurred either on or before the event start date.

All sub-analyses are based on the information recorded in the first event in the stay.

Sub-analysis is available using the following filters:

Te Whatu Ora district
ethnicity (Māori, Pacific, Asian and Other [including unknown]).

This indicator differs from the falls indicator in the Te Tāhū Hauora Atlas of Healthcare Variation, as it counts all acute/arranged hospital admissions (stays), rather than people with more than one fall only counted once.

Numerator

The number of non-fracture acute and arranged admissions (stays) in the hospital as the result of a fall.

See notes for ICD codes and definitions.

Denominator

Resident population, Stats NZ population projections.

Denominator detail

All hospital admissions for injuries other than fractures, due to a fall.

Stays included in this measure are those that:

started with an acute or arranged event (admission type codes AA, AC, ZA or ZC)
started with an event with an external cause code of a fall (W00–W19) that occurred either on or before the event start date.

ED short stays (treatment in ED for 3 hours or more) are also included.

Denominator exclusions

Stays excluded from this measure are those that:

had a fracture
had an unknown health district, age or gender
consisted of only non-case-mix events (EXCLU purchase unit); non-case-mix events are otherwise included as long as a case-mix event is within the stay
start with a non-acute event code (ie, excluding falls that clearly occur in hospitals, like those measured in the Te Tāhū Hauora quality and safety markers).

Responsible organisation(s)

Health Quality & Safety Commission | Te Tāhū Hauora

Data sources

National Minimum Dataset (NMDS)

National Population Projection - Stats NZ

Measure sets

Health areas

Fall without fracture admissions