Patient falls in hospitals lead to patient harm, staff distress and economic burden on health systems. There are few strategies with robust evidence demonstrating benefit for the prevention of falls, especially in acute hospital settings. Education and multicomponent fall prevention approaches are promising. Rigorous systematic measurement of implementation has been lacking in most hospital fall prevention trials. This paper describes the protocol for a trial that will evaluate the impact of supported implementation of tailored multicomponent fall prevention interventions on patient falls in hospital.
A stepped-wedge hybrid type I effectiveness implementation cluster randomised trial will be conducted. Twelve inpatient wards across four metropolitan hospitals will be enrolled in the trial, clustered into groups of four and randomised to commence the intervention at one of three time periods. Patients and ward staff will be recruited to complete pre-implementation surveys, which, combined with analysis of routinely collected local falls data and staff brainstorming, will inform tailored multicomponent fall prevention interventions for each ward. Wards will receive quality improvement training, clinical facilitation and staff education for at least 4 months to support implementation of their fall prevention interventions. The primary outcome—rate of falls—will be measured using routinely collected hospital falls data from the incident management system and medical records. Pre-implementation and post-implementation patient and staff surveys, qualitative interviews and bedside audits will measure secondary effectiveness and implementation outcomes. Healthcare utilisation from hospital data will inform the cost-effectiveness analysis.
The Sydney Local Health District Human Research Ethics Committee (RPAH Zone) approved this trial (protocol number X24-0087 and 2024/ETH00583). The trial is registered with the Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ACTRN12624000896572). Data collection commenced in October 2024, due for completion in May 2026. Results will be published in reputable international journals and presented at relevant conferences.
Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ACTRN12624000896572).
Sleep impairments are prevalent among individuals recovering from substance use disorders (SUDs) and are associated with poorer treatment outcomes and increased relapse risk. Physical activity (PA) is known to enhance sleep in general populations, but its day-to-day effects on sleep during SUD recovery remain underexplored, especially across different recovery stages.
In this observational n-of-1 study, we aim to examine within-person associations between daily PA and sleep quality in three groups of individuals at varying stages of substance use recovery (early treatment, continuing care and long-term recovery). A substudy will validate the agreement between two wearable sleep-monitoring devices. A total of 90 participants (30 per recovery group) from Western Australia will complete daily ecological momentary assessments and wear the SENS Motion sensor and/or Withings Sleep Analyzer over a 30-day period. Outcomes include device-derived sleep and PA measures, self-reported affect, craving, well-being and recovery outcomes. Multilevel models will explore within-person and between-person associations. This study will generate individualised evidence on associations between PA and sleep to inform tailored SUD care. It will also assess the feasibility of using wearable sleep monitors in real-world SUD recovery settings. Results may support the future development of just-in-time adaptive intervention procedures.
The study was approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee of Curtin University (HRE2025-0379). Findings will be shared through peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations, with lay summaries provided to treatment facilities and interested participants to support translation into community and service settings.
ACTRN12625000835448.