Continual Falls: A Case Study

The unsafe environment is the significant factors that contributed to unintentional falls-related injuries in the Hilltop community. Also, the photo and evidence have shown that people in the Hilltop community commonly live in unsafe environments, and they are exposed to high risks that increase their likelihood of being injured. Children and older adults are the vulnerable groups as they have less capacity to overcome these risks. After exploring the Hilltop community, the potential causes of unintentional fall-related injury are both intrinsic and extrinsic factors. The Intrinsic factors include individual’s vulnerabilities that increase the risk of falls such as chronic functional impairments (visual loss or physical function limitation) and acute illnesses (asthma, myocardial infarction). For the extrinsic or environmental risk factors, which include unsafe walking surfaces, obstacles in a sidewalk, unstable stair, unsecured handrails and poor lighting. As an example from a conversation with a barista at the Starbucks coffee, a young man living in the neighborhood for 7 years, he said “some living places in this community are old and insecure. You know, my friend he had broken arm because he slipped on the

Individuals sustaining a fall is a troublesome issue worldwide. The risk of falling is enhanced as a result of hospitalization due to the unfamiliarity of the surround environment, sickness and treatments. The fall itself and associated inuries imposes a burden on the individual and the entire health care system. It can have a lingering effect on the individual resulting in limited mobility, which imposes declining functionality and a heightened probability of additional occurrences of falling 4. As individuals age, the probability of being injuries as a result of a fall increases dramatically and in the case of necessary hospitalization, results in increased costs and prolonged periods of stay (Dykes et al., 2010).

The purpose of this study was to provide normative data on fall prevalence in US hospitals by unit type and to determine the 27-month trends in falls prior to the implementation of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service (CMS) rule which does not reimburse hospitals for care related to injury resulting from hospital falls. Does the fact that Medicare will not pay for hospital stays affect the attention nursing staff pay to patients who are fall risks.

Fall prevention is a vital aspect of a nurse’s job in the hospital. In this article, it explains hospitals having fall risk assessment tools, but many of them have not implemented interventions to mitigate patient-specific fall risk to these tools. The research problem addressed even though fall prevention should be modified to the individuals risk factors. Hospitals have not implement the use of fall prevention intervention to targeted patient with specific risk factors. Each patient is an individual and may have different risk factors than the patient in the next bed. The gaps in knowledge for fall risk patient are medical personnel don’t consider patient specific fall risk factors in the hospital setting. This study understands little research

I have chosen as my adverse event to be about a particular patient which falls at the hospital. I will show how common it is for patients to fall in a hospital and suggest some ways of prevention, which includes properly training the whole staff and constant monitoring of certain patients. We will discuss ongoing quality improvement method to minimize any and all falls.

Everybody know a family member or a friend who has fallen either at home, in the hospital, or in the street. Falls can cause dangerous side effects to the elderly population and can make them loose their independence overtime. “Falls are commonly defined as inadvertently coming to rest on the ground, floor or other lower level, excluding intentional change in position to rest in furniture, wall or other objects” (World Health Organization, 2017). Certain falls need an immediate medical attention and intervention to prevent further complications. Preventing falls and injuries should be everyone’s high priority to help elderly feel and stay safe from the threat and the danger of falling.

Falls in older patients has become a major problem in geriatric care facilities that I currently work, with an increase to in 15% from previous year, leading to serious physical and psychological consequences which are very devastating. Falls resulting in fractures of the skull, hip, wrist, spine and other severe injuries has lengthened hospitalization, and medical cost. Falls have also incurred fear, apprehension, suffering, depression, and reduced patient’s independence. Bone injuries (fractures) in older adult patients heal slower and poorer due to deterioration and weakening in bone function. Falls in older adults are the leading cause of

The risk of falling dramatically increases as one ages. According to Menant et al, a fall is defined as an “unexpected event in which the person comes to the ground, floor, or lower level”. In this study conducted by Menant et al, the authors desired to distinguish certain factors that may contribute to falls associated with the elderly.

The article studies multiple sclerosis and Dynamic Gait Index as a tool for evaluating walking and risks of falls during rehabilitation among people with this disease. There were 81 participant and eight tasks with 0 to 3 points to each in a scale of 4, were “0” meant severe impairment and “3” as a normal walking with out an assistive device, total score 4. “The DGI consists of 8 items: walking on level surface, walking when changing speed, walking with horizontal head turns, walking with vertical head turns, walking with pivot turn, walking with stepping over obstacles, walking around obstacles, and stair climbing “ (Forsberg,2013). Ages were between 19 and 73 years old, and the majority were women. Also, only patients that were able to walk 100 meters were illegible to participate. The more points mean, the easier to walk in these or those circumstances. Each test took only 5 to 10 minutes. The

For MS, this condition is often times looked over in the aging population due to the fact that it is not a condition that is commonly looked for in the geriatric population. While MS is often thought to be a disease that is more evident in young and middle aged adults, literature explains that approximately 10% of all people diagnosed with MS are over the age of 65 (Finlayson). It has also been proven time and time again that by maintaining activity for as long as possible and getting these individuals active as early as possible is incredibly valuable to the course of the condition and to preventing decline (Kolackzowski). Not only is it incredibly valuable to keep these individuals diagnosed with conditions active, but evidence has shown that keeping our geriatric population in general active prolonged life and drastically improves quality of life (Matteo). These conditions all have very recognizable symptoms, and when people take the time to briefly educate themselves on these symptoms, it can really alter the course of these individuals’ lives forever. Degenerative conditions are incredibly detrimental. They are terrifying and horrific for not only the individuals diagnosed but the family members surrounding them. By intervening early, not only does it drastically improve the quality of life of the

There are severe consequences that can impact a person’s health and well-being from a fall. Not all falls are severe, but the simplest fall for a particular individual can cause a chain reaction that will affect the individual’s daily activities. “A fall can not only effect a person physically but also psychologically causing a loss of confidence, anxiety which can be more debilitating that the physical” (Barker, 2014, p. 1). Falling is not inevitable as a result of growing older, but there is an increase in the risk.

In this case, the interviewees were patients who had just received medical intervention to stem their condition of multiple sclerosis, with the main aim of the research being the modification of their perception to participate more in physical activity. In contrast, according to Burnard (1991), the primary limitation of the research based on a qualitative approach is that it lacks measurable numerical data.

Older adults like F.P. are exposed to conditions more often that could lead to a fall as compared to the younger individuals. There are several conditions that the 85-year-old F.P. is exposed to, and which could result in him experiencing a fall. The hearing, reflexes as well as the eyesight could be inefficient at this age, and this could increase his chances of falling. F.P. is also diabetic and suffers from a cardiopulmonary disease, asthma, and hypertension. These health conditions also elevate the possibility of a fall in the older adult. Some medicines used by the older adults also make them feel dizzy and hence could lead to a fall in these persons (Ambrose, Paul & Hausdorff, 2013). Other personal conditions include problems with

Though it yielded interesting results about balance recovery strategies, fall recovery research failed to pay dividends in terms of injury prevention. Studies this removed from the actual impact of a fall are unable to find substantial injury-provoking differences between younger and older people. Highly concerned with improving safety for the elderly, researchers like Luchies and colleagues refrained from measuring scenarios where participants actually lost balance. This limited the scope of their findings.

Falls are the leading cause of functional limitations in older adults. Approximately one in three community dwelling adults over 65 years old experience a fall each year 1, and falls account for approximately 40% of all death from injuries 2. The Timed Up and Go test (TUG) is a common test that is used to evaluate the risk of falling. However, it has been shown that the diagnostic accuracy of the TUG is limited in evaluating the elevated risk of falling in older adults 3. The long–term objective of this research is to improve the quality of the clinical measures that are used to detect the functional disabilities in rehabilitation setting.