Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40219597›Full record

ReviewJournal of advanced nursing2026

Clinical Implications for Management of Falls in Hospital Patients with Communication Disability After Stroke: A Qualitative Meta-Synthesis.

Rebecca Sullivan, Katherine Harding, Ian W Skinner, Bronwyn Hemsley

Abstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Journal of advanced nursing, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Rebecca SullivanUniversity of Technology Sydney, Haymarket, New South Wales, Australia.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3502-999X
Katherine HardingSchool of Allied Health, Human Services and Sport, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Ian W SkinnerSchool of Allied Health Exercise and Sports Sciences, Charles Sturt University, Port Macquarie, New South Wales, Australia.
Bronwyn HemsleyUniversity of Technology Sydney, Haymarket, New South Wales, Australia.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6255-3140

Funding

Australian Government Research Training Program ScholarshipJumbunna Postgraduate Research Scholarship
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundFalls in hospital are a common patient safety incident after stroke. Despite the reprevalence of communication disability following stroke, there is little guidance for health professionals to provide effective falls prevention strategies for this population.

objectivesTo provide a synthesis of findings across a selected set of related studies on falls in hospital patients with communication disabilities following stroke and guidance for health professionals to enhance falls prevention strategies for this group.

methodsA qualitative meta-synthesis of six integrated studies using a content thematic analysis.

resultsCommunication disability often lacks visibility in falls research, hospital policies, and clinical management. Whilst the relationship of communication disability as a risk factor for falls is unclear, communication disability contributes to falls and is a barrier to falls prevention and management. Suggestions for falls prevention include involving family members, tailored falls and stroke education programmes, and improved documentation of the functional impacts of communication disability.

conclusionIn recognising the complexities of falls in patients with communication disability, health professionals could provide more targeted, patient-specific falls prevention plans. Further research, inclusive of patients with communication disability following stroke, could provide important insights into their falls and falls management. Research examining the effectiveness of falls prevention strategies for this group is indicated. IMPLICATIONS FOR PATIENT CARE: Insights from this review could enhance falls prevention programmes for patients with communication disabilities after stroke. IMPACT: This meta-synthesis combined a set of integrated studies to provide guidance for the management and prevention of falls in hospital patients with communication disabilities after stroke. Three interconnected content themes were identified: (a) An invisible problem: communication disability is invisible, and consideration of this in research and falls management has been lacking; (b) Painting the falls picture: the nature of communication disability and falls; and (c) A complex problem: the multiple impacts of communication disability on falls management. Falls prevention themes identified in the individual studies that specifically target the needs of patients with communication disability after stroke are presented as 'The Way Forward: Potential Falls Prevention Strategies to Improve Care for Hospital Patients with Communication Disability Following Stroke'. The integration of these findings into clinical practice should mean that (a) healthcare professionals provide more patient-specific falls prevention plans that include considerations of communication disability, and (b) hospital managers should take steps towards improving falls prevention and management policies to include patients with communication disability following stroke. REPORTING

methodThis review is reported according to the Standards for Reporting Qualitative Research. PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION: No patient or public contribution.

Indexed as

Accidental FallsCommunication DisordersStrokeAgedAged, 80 and overFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedQualitative Researchcommunication disabilityfallsnursingpatient safetystroke

Identifiers

PMID40219597
PMCPMC12721942

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.