Physical Restraint Use On Elderly Essay

According to the Joint Commission Resources (2005), "falls are the"¦primary etiology of accidental deaths in persons over the age of 65." However, it is important to note that in the opinion of JCR, the injury rate happens to be highest amongst those aged 85 years and above. To highlight the seriousness of the issue, the commission further points out that the number of deaths associated with

Falls in the elderly is a health risk priority (Crisp & Taylor. Pg. 235). People aged 65 and over are at most risk as falls can often result in morbidity, mortality and injury

Falls in an acute care setting lead the list of injury related deaths and deaths in the elderly. “A fall is defined as any event which patients are found on the floor (observed or unobserved) or an unplanned lowering of the patient to the floor by staff or visitors” (Kalisch, Tschannen, and Lee, 2012, p. 6). Medicare and Medicaid changes in 2008 list falls as one of the 10 hospital acquired conditions for which hospitals will no longer be reimbursed because falls are considered preventable conditions. Joint Commission accredited hospitals are required to assess for falls risk and implement falls prevention measures.

The following paper will introduce the house bill number 4266 titled Nurse and Health Care Worker Protection Act of 2015. This bill attempts to lessen nurse injuries by investing in safe patient handling and mobilization technologies and education programs. This paper will provide a background on the bill. Next, the bill will be summarized and analyzed using Malone’s (2005) framework. The paper will next discuss ethical considerations, mainly focusing on utilitarianism and nonmaleficence to highlight both the pros and cons of the policy present by the house. A section is included on nurse support for the bill by the American Nurses Association, and finally a personal reflection.

Every year, about one third of everyone over the age of 65 falls, and do not report it to their doctors. Falls are the leading cause of fatal and nonfatal injuries in older people (Falls Among Older Adults). Falls become more common as people age because their bones become more brittle and their muscle mass decreases. In society today, the baby boomers are aging, which means falls will continue to increase in frequency. When a person falls, it doesn’t just affect the victim; it affects everyone. In 2012, approximately $30 billion went towards medical costs that were associated with falls (Falls Among Older Adults). To prevent more people being injured and more money being spent, there has to be a change.

The purpose of this paper is to critique the research article, Mohler & Meyer’s “Attitude of nurses towards the use of restraints in geriatric care: A systemic review of qualitative and quantitative study 2014. The incident I am going to discuss in this paper is of Mr. P., an 85-year-old man, admitted to this facility about 4 months ago. His history includes coronary heart disease, cataract, dementia, hypertension, macular degeneration and Alzheimer’s. Mr P. scored 28 of 30 on the Folstein Mini-Mental State Test, he missed the date and recalled 2 of 3 objects in 5 minutes (Folstein, Folstein, and McHugh 1973). His medications include; Analgesics, antihypertensions, antipsychotics

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

Medical expenses in United States are increasing at an enormous pace. One of the highest expenditure of its expenses is used toward the care of elderly US senior citizens. Elderly people are vulnerable to many diseases, but one of the incidents that the elderly people are prone to is fall. As a person grows older, chances of fall increases. Elderly person have weaker bones, and a damages caused by a fall can have a huge impact on an elderly person’s health. Falls are the leading cause of injury related visit to emergency department and primary etiology of accidental deaths among elderly people. Emergency department visits related to falls are more common in children less than five years of age and adults 65 years of age and older. Compared

The General Accounting Office and the Health Human Services Office of Inspector General both have noted the lack of known data related to the use of these practices (Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organization [JCAHO], 2004). Research has revealed that the use of restraints varies dramatically from facility to facility with a wide range of facility and staff knowledge on how to prevent and avoid such use. According to Castle and Mor (1998), there are a growing number of stakeholders that have developed guidelines for restraints use and the quality of these guidelines have yet to be determined and their widespread application

According to the CDC (2015), the unintentional falls are the leading cause of both nonfatal injuries and fatal injuries requiring emergency treatment in adults and older adults. Moreover, the consequence of falls leads to more hospital admission, disability, and deaths than any other type of trauma (CDC, 2015). Furthermore, the CDC reported the cost of falls that fall-related injuries are among the 20 most expensive medical conditions, and the Medicare pays for around 78% of the costs of falls (CDC, 2014). Therefore, the unintentional fall-related injury caused by unsafe environments may be the vital health issue in that

Enforcing laws in nursing and care facilities will directly benefit both the elderly patients and the care physician. With laws enforced, and families and patients informed, a world of worry dissolves from the patient and the family. When patients and families don’t need to worry about the safety or livelihood in a nursing or care home, it benefits everyone. The census bureau states, “According to the U.S. Census Bureau, people 65 years of age and older accounted for 12.5% of the US population in 2000” (Sellas M.D.). It would be a huge relief for everyone if laws were enforced. Also, the work environment for the care and nursing physicians would greatly benefit from the enforcement of elder abuse safety regulations. As stated previously, most acts of violence in the nursing and care fields occur when employees collect low wages and feel miserable because of their working environment. When the government enforces laws, it creates a better working environment and then a safer environment for patients. In many cases, nurses and other caregivers may not know exactly what forms elder abuse can take. They need to be informed, in a variety of ways. According to the Oxford Journal, “There is an annual world Elder Abuse Awareness Day and the

Proponents of physical restraint believe that the use of it can assist healthcare providers in

Elimination of patient falls is not an easy task otherwise they would have been eliminated by now. Patient falls unfortunately continue to be a challenge and occur within the hospital and nursing home settings at alarming and sometimes deadly rates. The Center for Disease Control estimates that 1,800 older adults living in nursing homes die each year from fall-related injuries. Survivors frequently sustain injuries resulting in permanent disability and reduced quality of life. Annually, a typical nursing home with 100 beds reports 100 to 200 falls and many falls go unreported (CDC, 2015). Falls occur more often in nursing homes because patients are generally weaker, have more chronic illnesses, have difficulty ambulating, memory issues,

As the healthcare system in this country has changed, so have traditional nursing homes. Families have the right to expect that their loved ones will be taken care of by professionals in a caring environment. Unfortunately, may people are being abused and neglected in nursing homes. It is very clear that abuse is a serious problem among nursing home patients, and something needs to be done to put a stop to it.

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) reported that more than one third of adults 65 and older fall each year. Half of the elderly people, who fall, do so repeatedly. Aside from the health problems related to falls, nearly $20 billion of direct medical costs are associated with fatal and non-fatal falls (Larson & Bergmann, 2008).