Fall Prevention In Older Adults

The purpose of this research paper was to examine the latest research and evidence-based practices related to inpatient falls. Falls among the elderly within a hospital setting has increased within the last decade. Inpatient falls have become the second leading cause of death, causing longer hospital stays and indirect costs for the hospital. The research reviewed multiple studies, which discussed the causes of inpatient falls. A few causes included nurses and staff not knowledgeable of current hospital practices, lack of individualized plan of care, and lack of training related to falls. The findings assisted the writer to revise the current fall policy and procedure for Arrowhead Regional Medical Center (ARMC). A fall reduction program

Brittany Nix- This writer believes a key point or concern for health care professionals is how to keep the middle age group safe while maintaining privacy and independence. In comparing the first research to the current, data findings revealed the incidence of falls in middle-aged inpatients were similar to older inpatients. Far too often this writer feels the nursing profession stereotypes the older population while overlooking the risk in middle aged adults. This writer believes this research challenges nursing professionals to implement individualized fall prevention for patients, regardless of

Falls among any individual can cause significant trauma, often leading to an increase in mortality. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2012), one in every three adults over the age of 65 falls each year. Long-term care facilities account for many of these falls, with an average of 1.5 falls occurring per nursing home bed annually (Vu, Weintraub, & Rubenstein, 2004). In 2001, the American Geriatric Society, British Geriatric Society, and the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Panel on Falls Prevention published specific guidelines to prevent falls in long-term

Evidence Based Management of Fall Prevention in the Health Care Setting Patient’s fall is an unexpected event, and it is one of the challenges that nurses face in caring for patients. Sometimes, finding answers to why a patient fell could be difficult, but providing a strategic approach to prevent the fall event will improve the existing practice and preserved patient safety. The evidence based practice is the new world which nurses live in through a research and is the best tool for providing quality care for patients. To improve the existing practice for a fall prevention, this paper will examine the effectiveness of the fall preventive measures provided for patients during the period of hospitalization and the process of an health assessment’s visit by answering a clinical PICO(t) question which stated; in older adult patients, what is the efficacy of using fall prevention compared to no fall prevention for preventing fall during the period of hospitalization and the process of health assessment in the primary care setting?

The purpose and scope of the “RNAO Falls Prevention CPG” are: “To increase all nurses’ confidence, knowledge, skills and abilities in the identification of adults within health care facilities at risk of falling and to define interventions for the prevention of falling. It does not include interventions for prevention of falls and fall injuries in older adults living in community settings. The guideline has relevance to areas of clinical practice including acute care and long-term care,

Falling is a common cause of the health problem, leading to injury, hospitalization, institutionalization, and even mortality in community-dwelling older adults (1, 2). It is estimated that 30–40% of older adults experience at least 1 fall a year. This amounts to direct costs of 0.1% and 1.5%, respectively, of the total healthcare expenditures of the United States and European countries (3). Over the past few decades, a number of risk factors of falling have been identified (e.g., mobility, mental status, vision, hearing, blood pressure, hip weakness, medications, and balance control) (4-6). Prospective study also finds previous fall experience as a significant predictor of future falls (7). It is therefore important to obtain a good understanding of risk factors for falls to enable identification of targets for intervention and prevention.

In USA, one in three adults over age 65 suffer fall while 20% to 30% experience moderate to severe injuries (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2010). In 2010, the cost of falls among elderly people for US health care system was over $30 billion (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2010). Over the last few decades the rate of fall related deaths in USA has sharply been escalating. Many older adults have developed the fear of falling, limiting their social activity and forcing them to live in fear. Some adults suffer lacerations, fracture and trauma during fall, deteriorating their quality of life.

Falls are highly common amongst the elderly, particularly those who lack mobility, are in hospital, or are living in a nursing home. When an elderly person falls, their activities of daily living may be impacted due to injuries sustained from the fall. It is essential that precautions are put in place to prevent falls in all settings. This essay will discuss the statistics surrounding falls, prevention strategies, and the impacts of a fall on a patient’s ability to complete activities of daily living.

During hospitalizations, falls are amongst the highest preventable consistent adverse events. Preventing such undesirable events, enhances patient overall experience, as well as increased trust in the health care professional team (Fragata, 2011). The importance of fall prevention lies with the many serious unfavorable health outcomes it can pose on the patient. Falls have the potential increase length of hospital stay, limit mobility, independence, but can ultimately lead to health deterioration, including death. Worldwide, falls are the second leading cause of accidental death. In addition to the life-threatening health and safety risks falls have to the patient, it also as a financial impact,

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).

I discovered preventive strategies could be used as a theory to minimise falls in older people using different literature reviews. A fall however can be defined as an unexpected, involuntary loss of balance by which a person comes to rest at lower or ground level (Commodove, 1995). The older population is growing in number, and falling is common in this group up to one-third of people over the age of 65 falls each year, with half reporting multiple falling episodes (Bludau and Lipsitz, 1997). Savage and Matheisk-Kraft, (2001) states that fall-related injury is the sixth highest cause of in older people.

Part B: Annotated Bibliography Article One: Why do hospitalized older adults take risks that may lead to falls? Citation: Haines, T. P., Lee, D. A., O'Connell, B., McDermott, F., & Hoffmann, T. (2015). Why do hospitalized older adults take risks that may lead to falls? Health Expectations, 18(2), 233-249.

Fall risk assessments tools, which help to identify those patients at risk of falling, play a vital role in reducing the number of falls. The basis for this assessment is that if patients at high fall risk can be

A fall is a lethal event that results from an amalgamation of both intrinsic and extrinsic factors which predispose an elderly person to the incident (Naqvi et al 2009). The frequency of hospital admission due to falls for older people in Australia, Canada, UK and Northern Ireland range from 1.6 to 3.0 per 10 000 population (WHO 2012). The prevalence of senior citizen’s falls in acute care settings varies widely and the danger of falling rises with escalating age or frailty. Falls of hospitalized older adults are one of the major patient safety issues in terms of morbidity, mortality, and decreased socialization

Impairments can contribute to an increased risk of falls at all stages following a stroke.2,5 As a result of these impairments, stroke has been classified as the most disabling chronic disease, with about 80% of individuals falling within the first three months from loss of balance when walking.2,5 In addition, approximately 70% of individuals who have had a stroke experience ongoing difficulty with ambulation within the first year.2 One research study revealed that patients post stroke have fall rates that range from 3.8 to 22%, and the incidence of falls range from 1.3 to 6.5 times in the year after the stroke.1 Furthermore, stroke has been identified as the primary cause of disability in the United States and the third leading cause of death in people over the age of