Use of Orthotics in Fall Prevention

The recommended implementation of the fall prevention program in an organization includes admitting older patients at risk for falls. Such a program requires time, money, collaboration effort from the staff, and administrative support. Fall risk is a growing patient issue in the unit therefore the proposal solution is needed to prevent fall. It is a comprehensive approach to improve the health condition of the elderly in the unit.

Although older adults fall more frequently than younger people, falls are not considered as a normal part of aging. Falls and fall related injuries among older adults are major Public Health concern and represent significant reasons of mortality and morbidity in older populations. Koski et al., (1998) defines “fall” as a sudden, unintended loss of balance leaving the individual in contact with the floor or another surface such as a step or chair. Each year, approximately 1 in 3 persons aged 65 years or older fall and more than 1.6 million older U.S. adults go to emergency departments for fall-related injuries (Hyuma et al., 2013). Injuries related to fall are associated with significant disability, reduced independence and mobility, and increased risk of injury deaths. According to National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (2008), the major primary

Falls amongst elderly adults are a major societal problem leading to fall-related injuries and disabilities. Falls impact aging in place, bring high healthcare costs, as well as isolation and disengagement due to the fear of falling. A sociopolitical influence that may have impacted Dr. Chippendale’s work is the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has an intervention program that promotes healthy aging by addressing falls and fall prevention in the neighborhood context. The goal of this program is to partner with other organizations that share the same interest in reducing fall-related injuries amongst the elderly population (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2004). This

The physical, social, psychological, and financial impact that falls can have on the elderly population is particularly tragic because falls are frequently preventable (CDC, 2012). This report will examine the findings of recent research into fall prevention in hospital settings, to better understand the preventive

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

This article is a review of various studies done to test interventions to reduce the occurrence of falls in the elderly. Prevention of falls is the goal to reduce the increasing amount of fractures in adults over the age of 50. Risk factors for falls include age, being female, cognitive impairments, medical factors such as diagnosis, use of certain medications, environmental factors, and other physical impairments. These studies use fall prevention strategies to test effectiveness at reducing falls.

Falls is the leading cause of injuries among older adult; however, falls should not be an inevitable result of aging. Falls affect not only on an older individual’s independence and well-being but also personal and the nation financial. It is important that older adults are aware of how to prevent themselves from falling. Health care providers play a crucial role in falls prevention. Providers should perform gait and balance screening older adults 65 years and older for falls risk at least once a years and should pay more particular attention to individuals who have history of falling. Additionally, older adults have a higher tendency of taking multiple medications, providers should review their older patients’ medication regimen periodically because some medication can increase risk for falls. Exercise is found to have a positive impact on preventing falls. Providers should encourage older patients to start exercise program to increase strength and improve body balance.

This topic is important to me as I am the Director of Nursing at a 258-bed long term care facility. My facility consistently performs in the 75th percentile for falls when compared to long term care facilities nationally. In addition, our falls with major injury have doubled in the last 6 months. Hence, fall prevention in nursing homes is of utmost importance to me as decreasing falls and falls with major injury is essential for improving our quality of care.

196-199), Older Adult Inpatient Falls in Acute Care Hospitals: Intrinsic, Extrinsic, and Environmental Factors used a varying sample size of 71 to 34,972 acute care hospital patients, including the ages of 17 to 104 years old (Zhao, Kim, 2015, pp. 29-43), Hospital Fall Prevention: A Systematic Review of Implementation, Components, Adherence, and Effectiveness met the criteria of a study due to the inclusion of studies that report in-hospital falls in acute care hospital setting, however this study wasn’t age specific (Hempel et al., 2013, pp. 483-493), An Analysis of Patient Falls and Fall Prevention Programs across Academic Medical Centers analyzed 154,618 inpatient falls, this study did not specifically focus on this groups’ targeted age population (Williams, Szekendi, Thomas, 2014, pp 19-29). Evidence-Based Falls Prevention in Critical Access Hospitals was another study that focused on inpatients but wasn’t specific to the 65 year old or older

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.

People aged 65+ have the highest rate of injury causing falls in the home, hospital or aged care facility than any other lifespan stage.This is due to limited mobility, strength and decreasing health. The incidence rate helps to identify changes in patterns. When addressing injuries due to falls in older people one must consider hospitalisation, injury type and place of occurrence.

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 health promotion issue in my community is fall prevention among the elderly who are cognitively impaired and others with physical limitations from the disease processes like MS, Parkinson, and vertigo. "Elderly individuals in nursing homes are especially prone to falling and the ensuing complications. Consequences of falling are numerous and include fractures and/or soft tissue injury, death, and the fear of falling again" (Schoenfelder, 2000, p.

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 definition of the concepts ‘fall prevention’ has not really been an issue in the fall related studies. That notwithstanding, fall prevention is defined as a variety of actions to help reduce the number of accidental falls suffered by older people. These actions are done in processes that has been defined in specific guidelines (NICE, 2013 and WHO, 2012). Fall prevention is effective when it integrates policy (PO), preventive measures (PM) and practice (PA)(WHO, 2007; NICE, 2013)