Investigating the effectiveness of falls prevention alarms in hospitals by removing or reducing their use

The intervention will be the elimination or reduction of mobilisation alarms in hospital wards. The use of mobilisation alarms to prevent falls in hospitals have uncertain evidence for their effectiveness, but they are also one of the most frequently used falls prevention strategies that have high costs associated. There will be two arms of intervention: Arm 1 Total elimination of mobilisation alarms on the ward. Arm 2 Reduction of mobilisation alarm use to below 3% on the ward. Eighteen hospital wards will be paired, with one ward in Arm 1 and one ward in Arm 2. The intervention will be administered in a stepped-wedge manner, where all ward pairs begin with usual care, and then begins intervention one pair at a time in a sequential manner on a monthly basis, until all ward pairs are undergoing intervention. The first ward pair will be monitored for 1 month of usual care before beginning intervention. All pairs will stop intervention at the same time, one month after the last pair has began intervention. The first ward pair will have undergone 9 months of intervention, and the last ward pair will have undergone 1 month of intervention. The total period of intervention will be 9 months. At the end of the 9 months, all wards will be able to return to their previous levels of alarms at their own discretion.