Preventing Elderly Falls

Many of these inpatient falls can be prevented when following the proper fall prevention measures. Not only does patient safety make preventing falls a priority but the financial impact these falls have on an institution make it a priority as well.

The Cochrane Library search with the MeSH heading accidental falls yielded 7694 articles. To further narrow the search, the MeSH headings bed alarm AND hourly rounding were added. This yielded six articles, one of which was applicable to this study.

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,

Anyone is at risk for a fall, however, falls are especially concerning in the older adult population.

Current literature has exposed many risk factors for falls. There are both intrinsic risk factors and extrinsic risk factors. Intrinsic risk factors include changes that come with age, such as gait issues, urinary incontinence, and fear of falling. Extrinsic risk factors include those that are related to the physical environment such as improper use of assistive devices and poor floor surfaces. No matter the type of risk factor, it is crucial to conduct a risk assessment when trying to prevent falls from occurring. Pearson and Coburn (2011) found that identifying risk factor for falls will help identify appropriate prevention strategies. Fall risk assessments help determine Talk about

Light the rooms and hallways at night. Dim lighting and darkness can lead to falls, so use nightlights to create a well-lit path to the bathroom.

Intervening falls can reduce the financial burdens attributed to patient falls in hospitals and other healthcare settings are among the most serious risk management issues facing the healthcare industry.

“In the United Sates, unintentional falls are the most common cause of nonfatal injuries for people older than 65 years (Hughes, 2008).” This illustrates a problem that requires addressing. “Rates of falls vary across hospitals and units however, the highest rates are found in neuroscience (6.12-8.83/1000 patient days) and medical (3.48-6.12 falls/1000 patient days) units” (Mion, 2014). Older adults are usually those most affected and their falls are

The incidence of fall-related injuries in the elderly U.S. population will continue to increase (Quigley, Neily, Watson, Wright, & Strobel, 2017).

Seniors with breathing issues also have a significantly higher risk of falling than those without breathing problems. A fall risk analysis of the home can help mitigate some of the risk by making some changes such as grab bars by the toilet and shower, removing rugs, and adding motion sensor lights to avoid reaching or stretching for a switch or crossing the room just to turn a light

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

Falls are considered a leading cause of mortality and injury among older adults and majority of the falls occurs while hospitalized. One would think being in the hospital would be one of the safest places for older adults as far as fall prevention is concern due to the fact that hospitals provide staffing around the clock for patients but more and more falls have been occurring in the hospital especially in the older adult population. Fall is an unintended descent to the ground. It raises public and family care liability; it also decreases patient’s functioning because it causes pain and suffering, and increases medical costs (Saverino et al, 2015). The Center for Disease Control

Falls are a great health concern for hospitalized patients since it has been ranked the

Falls are a common cause of death for people over the age of 65. Following accidents, fall related mortality rate has relatively stayed constant over the last four decades. The dementia disorder continues to add an increase in fall-risk. Despite their knowledge

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).