Alzheimer's Loss Prevention Plan

When a person suffers from dementia then they are at an increased risk of falls. People with Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia tend to be at a high risk of falling. They are more than three times more likely to fracture their hip when they fall, which leads to surgery and immobility. The rate of death following a hip fracture for those with Alzheimer's is also increased. Thus, fall prevention for people with dementia is critical. There are many causes for a person with dementia to fall over and jeopardise their health, the first is Physical Weakness, Gait Changes and Poor Balance, Lack of Physical Exercise, Memory Impairment, Poor Judgment and Visual Misperception, Alzheimer’s can affect the visual-spatial abilities, a person can misinterpret what he sees and misjudge steps, uneven terrain, shiny areas on the floor or changes in floor color. Be sure to have his vision checked regularly.

The widespread falls among the geriatric population reduce their quality of life and take away their functional independence. Lee et al (2013) state that falls leads to the rise in mortality rates and morbidity complications such as fractures and disabilities,1 out of 3 elderly persons in a community setting falls in a year. About 87% of all fractures in the elderly are due to falls. Several of the risk factors that are associated with falls are visual impairments, cognitive impairments, and health-related problems: arthritis, orthostatic, back pains, lack of balance-weakening muscles, previous falls, polypharmacy or psychoactive drugs (Lee et al, 2013).

Falls are a major cause of injury and death in the frail older population with Alzheimer’s disease. Residents in the long-term care settings experience falls for many reasons and are likely to endure injuries more than those in other settings. Preventing falls in this setting posed significant challenge, many have cognitive problems, aged related changes, chronic medical conditions, medication effects, and physical limitations requiring dedicated interdisciplinary efforts (Vance, 2011).

“In the United Sates, unintentional falls are the most common cause of nonfatal injuries for people older than 65 years (Hughes, 2008).” This illustrates a problem that requires addressing. “Rates of falls vary across hospitals and units however, the highest rates are found in neuroscience (6.12-8.83/1000 patient days) and medical (3.48-6.12 falls/1000 patient days) units” (Mion, 2014). Older adults are usually those most affected and their falls are

Broken bones, hip fractures, head injuries, and even death are a serious concern among the elderly in the long-term care setting resulting from falls. Fall prevention in a long-term care facility with dementia residents presents an ongoing challenge to the entire interdisciplinary care team due to their cognitive impairment. Even with significant protocols in place, falls are still to common. There must be other interventions such as distraction techniques that can help reduce the incidence of falls among this population.

Therefore, one could understand the importance of fall prevention among the elderly population in both the institutional and home settings. The following will discuss best practices to assist in the prevention of falls and geriatric syndromes.

Falls are considered a leading cause of mortality and injury among older adults and majority of the falls occurs while hospitalized. One would think being in the hospital would be one of the safest places for older adults as far as fall prevention is concern due to the fact that hospitals provide staffing around the clock for patients but more and more falls have been occurring in the hospital especially in the older adult population. Fall is an unintended descent to the ground. It raises public and family care liability; it also decreases patient’s functioning because it causes pain and suffering, and increases medical costs (Saverino et al, 2015). The Center for Disease Control

“Previous studies showed a high incidence of recurrent falls in people with PD, ranging from 18% to 65% in a 1-year period” (Almeida et al., 2016, p. 1075). Falls are a risk for many people with Parkinson’s disease. People who have Parksinson’s disease and have issues with gait control have frequent falls. Nurses help care for individuals who have Parkinson’s when they enter the care facility. Exercising on a regular basis can help decrease the amount of falls with patients who have Parkinson’s disease. This paper will be located in a long term care facility and discuss how decreasing falls can improve quality of life in patients who have Parkinson’s disease.

The paper will discuss falls prevention in the older adult over the age of 55 and new and alternative interventions for fall prevention compared to current practice. The desired outcome of the paper is to provide information for fall prevention and, therefore, decrease the occurrence of falls. First, in order to understand the importance falls have within the clinical setting, statistics showing the mortality, morbidity and financial impact should be understood. The occurrence of falls within the acute care setting is a growing problem among the elderly. The evidence shows that one in three people aged 65 or older will sustain a fall and that only half will report the fall to a caregiver (CDC, 2014). The number increases to one in two when the patient reaches the age of 80. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) defines a fall when a person unintentionally comes to rest on the ground or another lower level. Falls are not an inevitable part of aging, however, aging does influence such things as reduced mobility, comorbidities, and cognitive impairment which contribute to fall risk. Falls are one of the leading causes of injuries in the acute care setting. The injuries sustained from falls leads to increased hospital stay time and a chance for further injuries which may harm the patient (CDC, 2014). According to the CDC in 2013, 2.5 million people suffered a fall, of these falls 734,000 were hospitalized. The falls also resulted in 22,900 people dying from fall

Falling risks are increased in seniors with dementia, musculoskeletal disorders, neurologic conditions, vision and hearing loss, and those on multiple medications. Given this list, is it any wonder that more than 50

Pt is a 69 y/o female referred to skilled PT due to decline in ADL’s of transfer and gait, BLE muscle weakness with decreased coordination, increasing confusion and required increasing assistance with functional ADL’s. Pt was noted with 2 fall incidents on 3/3/2018 and 3/19/2018. PMH: Alzheimer’s disease, cellulitis, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, depressive disorder. PLOF: a resident in assistive living facility (ALF), mod I with ADL’s and self care, bed mobility and transfer, SBA with ambulation w/o AD. CLOF: gait with no AD and SBA for 150’, standing dynamic balance at fair-, BLE coordination at fair-. Pt’s goal is return to prior level of function of I. The following article exploring cognitive reserve might help the patient as well as people

The Center for Disease Report (CDC) for Mortality and Morbidity Weekly has reported falls as being the leading cause of injury among the elderly adult. According to stats released by the CDC, there are an estimated one to three falls that occur among the elderly resulting in a direct medical cost of $30 billion yearly. According to Barbour et al. (2012) falls often result in significant consequences for the elderly adult patients including, hip fracture, brain injuries, limited functional abilities, and reductions in physical activities. Barbour et al. further reported that falls are more commonly seen in an older adults with some form of arthritis condition that results in poor neuromuscular functioning. Falls, as reported by Barbour et al. states that the incidence of falls within the fifty United States was highest among adult with arthritis condition as compared to a person without arthritis.

prevention of the falls could save older adults from related injuries and deaths. Researchers have

The criteria that will be established for inclusion in the study includes: a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, and a history of one or more falls in the last 180 days. Prior to the fall risk assessment project implementation signed consent from participants, health care representative, or guardians will be obtained. The project will be done through a pre- and post-data analysis. Twenty members will be chosen through random sampling from the criteria list.

Falling is inevitable at some point in life, and although most of the time falls are not serious, some can be life-threatening. Falls are a danger to both physical and psychological well-being because they may diminish a person’s ability to maintain an active and independent lifestyle.1 There are many factors that place individuals at risk for falls such as age, muscle weakness, difficulty with balance or walking, psychological diagnosis, and several medical conditions.1,2 Approximately one-third of people over the age of 65 fall at least once a year.3 Individuals that are status post stroke are at an increased risk of falls, making falls assessment and prevention a common priority for clinicians treating this population.1,2 Therefore, to direct the experimental methods and build on a basis of previous literature on this topic, the search began using OneSearch, CINAHL, PubMed, and