Fall And Suicide Research Paper

Falls and Fall related hospitalization and injury will increase as the population over age 65 increases. Falls impact not only seniors quality of life, as well as have repercussions in the lives of family and friends, the health care system and nursing home occupancy. This is an issue that should be addressed prior to the large fluctuation in population to set adequate services and programming in place for prevention and supporting the inevitable increase of hospitalizations and nursing home occupancies. The next obstacle in prevention & intervention is to gain entry into the community.

Falls occur in every age group but we most often hear about them occurring in the elderly population. I chose to research this topic because I have worked in a nursing home, home health, and at a small community hospital where I have seen falls occur at each of these facilities. I truly feel that we as nurses should take a stand to do everything we can to prevent these falls from occurring. I have heard nurses say I hope that they do not fall because of the paperwork that follows but yet they do little to assess or improve the risk of this occurring. It is stated that from “2010 to 2011, four hundred and fifty thousand people aged 65 years and over were admitted to the hospital as the result of a fall” (Duffy, 2013, p.259). That number is staggering to me because of how many lives that would affect and the impact it has on our health care system.

Older adults in acute care setting are at risk of falls during their stay in hospital. The article’s focus is to establish the main causes of inpatient falls through retrospective case reviews and to outline the evidence-based practices implemented to reduce these falls. A fall is an “unplanned descent to the floor” (The National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators,2010).

The word “fall” does not usually strike fear into the hearts of most people, but it should. Falls are all too common in the geriatric population, and they have devastating consequences. American Geriatric Society. (2016) falls are the leading cause of injury and death in adults 65 years and over. A person who falls may sustain severe injuries such as hip fracture, or head trauma. Falls have cost the US health system more than $19 billion and is predicted to increase to $54.9 billion by 2020. Falls are prevalent among elderly patients living in a Long Term Care Facility. According to Lee, A., Lee, K.-W., & Khang, P. (2013), argues that falls are the common and devastating problem among elderly clients causing a tremendous amount of morbidity,

Falls are the most frequent and devastating accidents in older adult (WHO, 2004). There are different interpretations related to falls. For instance, according to healthcare professions fall is an event leading to ill health and injuries, whereas older adults define it as a loss of balance (Zecevic et al., 2006). Approximately, 28% to 35% older adults age 65 years and older fall each year (WHO, 2007). Around 85% of these falls occurs in the home among older adults living independently (Tideiksaar, 1987). Falls accounts for 40% of all fatal injuries (Rubenstein, 2006). Fall is a reason for 25% of all hospital admissions, 40% of all nursing home admissions and 40% of those admitted do not return to independent living (Learn not to fall,

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention note that balance issues are a primary cause of senior falls. These falls are the leading cause of deaths related to injury amongst seniors. Each year, on average, one out of three seniors over 65 years of age fall. Even if the falls are not fatal, there are many serious consequences, such as hip fractures. Once a senior falls once, the likelihood of a future

One of the most serious health threats to seniors is also the most preventable. This threat is the act of falling. Each year, thousands of seniors injured in falls are treated in emergency rooms. While falling can injure people of any age, seniors don't have the upper body musculature and quick reaction times of younger adults to effectively break their falls.

In the article “The Effectiveness of a Fall Prevention/Management Program In Reducing Patient Falls: A Retrospective Study,” Urquhart Wilbert (2013) discussed the problem of increased falls among the elderly population while they are in the hospital or a long term care setting. She discussed that falls are associated with risk factors that are recognizable and if they get attention then the risk

The hospital can implement a survey to find out how much the employees know about interventions and preventions of falls and injury risk and develop a culture that make all staff members feel encouraged to take actions like addressing spills and malfunctioning equipment in a timely manner. According to Grant, McEnerney, and Proctor (2013), reviewing falls risk assessment, giving staff additional falls prevention training, using alarms and monitors, providing patients with yellow fall alert bands, providing more additional staff in the unit resulted in a huge improvement in reducing falls ‘total number of falls went from 277 during 2010-2011 period to 248 during 2011-2012 period and Falls with harm went from 42 during 2010-2011 period to 18 during 2012-2013 period.’ A continues comprehensive training and education sessions for nurses and staff to enhance knowledge about certain assessment is crucial and can help decrease fall risks and injuries among hospitalized patients aged 60 and older. One study suggested that nurses utilize a screening process that is easy to use and implement at any setting. The Ashen Fall Prevention Scale is a combination of a simple questionnaire and a safe quick balance tool which help the nurse or any healthcare provider to identify whether a balance issue exists or not (Pape, Schemmann, Foerster, & Knobe, 2015). This scale will also help identify the specific factors contributing to falls ‘vision or hearing impairment, medication, certain diseases…’, which can assist the nurse to come up with a particular prevention strategies specific to each situation. It is important to use evidence based fall prevention strategies such as the Ashen Fall Prevention Scale to reduce the incidence of falls among elderly. On the other hand, it is vital to have a yearly evaluation to assess the learned skills

Older patients have increased risk for falls and fall related injuries as hospital inpatients (Clayton, 2008). T

Falls top the list among the external causes of unintended injuries. The falls are coded as E880-E888 in the international classification of disease-9 (ICD-9), and W00-W19 that constitutes a broad variety of falls including falls on the same level, upper level, and other random falls. For a definition, falls are the inadvertently coming to repose on the ground, floor, or other levels excluding the purposeful change in a position to relax in furniture, wall, or the ground itself (WHO, 2007). The frequency of falls increases with the increase in age. Old people living in nursing homes fall frequently than old people living within people in a given community (WHO, 2007). In addition, the proportion of hospital admittance as a result of falls for people aged 60 and above in Australia ranges from 1.6 to 3.0 in population of 10 000 people.

A fall can result in the incapacitation of an elder and in some cases, death. A fall can also diminish and elder’s confidence to move about independently. Once an elder falls they are at a greater risk of falling. Elder’s may also develop a fear of falling, which can limit their mobility, and increased the risk of recurring falls. Falls affect both the victim and their caretakers and measures should be taken to prevent falls. Although not all risk factors can be eliminated may steps can be taken to reduce the amount of extrinsic and intrinsic factors. Falling is one of the most damaging, and common accidents that affect elders, but it is also one of the most

A major cause of hospitalization and morality in older people is the fear of falling or falling itself. Falling accounts for on average more than 2.5 million injuries treated in emergency rooms every year. Not to mention every 20 min an older adult dies from a fall, accounting for over 21,000 deaths in a year on average. This can get very costly; it is estimated to hit a high of $67.7 billion by the year 2020. Falling or the fear of falling not only leads to physical harm but also leads to mental distress in the elderly. The fear of falling can lead to things such as depression, anxiety, social isolation or even decreased physically activity that can later cause muscular dystrophy. Analysis of studies of the risk factors leading to fear of falling can help take preventative or precautionary measures for falling in older adults. Taking such measures aid in future high medical bills, mental distress, and increases chances of eliminating fear of falling much as possible.

Many people continue to raise alarm over a big number of old people who are falling in nursing homes. This is according to reports which indicates that old people are nursing injuries which caused by falls. Research indicates that old people who are from 65 years of age and above are the most affected by this problem. Most of these people do not have sufficient strength and this leads to falls. When they fall, some get injured where even some lose their lives. This being the case, different statistics have been presented regarding the number of old people who fall and those who are affected by this problem. It is important to note that a large number of old people suffer from various sicknesses. These leads to their lack of ability to support themselves and thus the cause of their falls. Nursing homes are increasingly reporting cases of old people who fall. There are groups and individuals who have raised concerns regarding the increasing numbers of these falls in nursing homes. Some have indicated that this is led by lack of proper care which is caused by recklessness in various duties. Some nursing homes have inadequate personnel to assist old people and this leads to

Patient falls is a huge nursing issue that requires intervention to promote patient safety at the hospital. My population is inpatient Adult, intervention is fall prevention techniques, comparison is Patient education Vs no education. Finally my outcome is outlined to promote patient’s safety and improve quality of care.