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Fall prevention in the hospitalized elderly patients
Prevention of falls in elderly essay
Fall prevention in the hospitalized elderly patients
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Causes, effects and prevention method of falls in Nursing homes. The elderly members of our society are very important in our lives. Once our family members or friends get to a certain age bracket, it is our duty to take care of them and make them feel more alive than ever. To most, this is a challenging task especially if you have a profession. Balancing between professional and personal life is stressing and one will always offer more time to either of the two. For this reason, most choose to send the elderly to nursing homes and other assisted living facilities. In these institutions, the elderly are well taken care of by a team of professionals and they even get to socialize with others. However, even in these facilities falls can occur and it is the obligation of …show more content…
This number is out of the 1.4 million people in nursing homes. Injuries from falls can be disabling and sometimes they are life threatening to the elderly. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) released the most common types of injuries inflicted from falls. The injuries are: • Spinal injuries • Head and traumatic brain injuries • Muscle tendon strains and sprains. • Bone fractures which include broken bones in the arms and ankles. Elderly who have suffered from falls often have fear of falling again. Falls can cause mobility difficulties leaving the elderly depressed since they are not able to move around and socialize with others or even enjoy their hobbies. To prevent falls in nursing homes, it is essential to know the common causes of falls first. These causes are: • Uneven or wet floor • Poor lighting • Keeping personal items away from the patients • Malfunctioning equipments such as wheelchairs without breaks. • Slippers without
The key objective of the project is to produce a report on fall among the geriatric population, which will help to improve an awareness and knowledge of the importance of lessens falls in elderly and encourage action to lower falls and related
As people age, they face difficulties with seeing and also with mobility, declines in their physiological systems impact balance, range and speed. These physiological problems can result in falls, which tend to be really problematic for the elderly living alone at home. The Hendrich II Fall Risk Model (HFRM) was used on Mr. T.C to assess his fall risk; this tool is used in acute care facilities to estimate the risk for falls in adults (Hendrich, 2013). The client scored a 6, any score exceeding a 5 is considered a high risk for fall. Being a male is one of the predetermined risk points that make one susceptible of falling as well their symptomatic depression, both which the client falls under. The Get-Up-and-Go Test is also a predetermined risk factor of HFRM; it determines the client’s ability to rise from a seated position. It took the client 3 attempts to fully stand up from a seated position.
Jones, D., & Whitaker, T. (2011). Preventing falls in older people: assessment and interventions. Nursing Standard, 25(52), 50-55.
Risk factors for falls in older people in nursing homes and hospitals. A systematic review and meta-analysis. Archives of gerontology & geriatrics, 56(3), 407-415. doi:10.1016/j.archger.2012.12.006
The National Patient Safety Goal (NPSG) for falls in long term care facilities is to identify which patients are at risk for falling and to take action to prevent falls for these residents. (NPSG.09.02.01). There are five elements of performance for NPSG: 1. Assess the risk for falls, 2. Implement interventions to reduce falls based on the resident’s assessed risk, 3. Educate staff on the fall reduction program in time frames determined by the organization, 4. Educate the resident and, as needed, the family on any individualized fall reduction strategies, and 5. Evaluate the effectiveness of all fall reduction activities, including assessment,
Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO). (2005). Prevention of falls and fall injuries in the older adult. Retrieved from http://rnao.ca/sites/rnao-ca/files/Prevention_of_Falls_and_Fall_Injuries_in_the_Older_Adult.pdf
A fall is an “untoward event which results in the patient coming to rest unintentionally on the ground” (Morris & Isaacs, 1980). When it comes to patient safety in health care, there isn’t any subject that takes precedence. Patient falls are a major cause for concern in the health industry, particularly in an acute-care setting such as a hospital where a patient’s mental and physical well being may already be compromised. Not only do patient falls increase the length of hospital stays, but it has a major impact on the economics of health care with adjusted medical costs related to falls averaging in the range of 30 billion dollars per year (Center for Disease Control [CDC], 2013). Patient falls are a common phenomenon seen most often in the elderly population. One out of three adults, aged 65 or older, fall each year (CDC, 2013). Complications of falls are quite critical in nature and are the leading cause of both fatal and nonfatal injuries including traumatic brain injuries and fractures. A huge solution to this problem focuses on prevention and education to those at risk. ...
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 (Swartzell et al. 2013). Because the multi-etiological factors contribute to the incidence and severity of falls in older society, each cause should be addressed or alleviated to prevent patient’s injuries during their hospital stay (Titler et al. 2011). Therefore, nursing interventions play a pivotal role in preventing patient injury related to hospital falls (Johnson et al. 2011). Unfortunately, the danger of falling rises with age and enormously affect one third of older people with ravages varying from minimal injury to incapacities, which may lead to premature death (Johnson et al. 2011). In addition, to the detrimental impacts on patient falls consequently affect the patient’s family members, care providers, and the health organization emotionally as well as financially (Ang et al. 2011). Even though falls in hospital affect young as well as older patients, the aged groups are more likely to get injured than the youth (Boltz et al. 2013). Devastating problems, which resulted from the falls, can c...
Preventing fall in the nursing facilites Introduction/ Background Fall is one of the major issues in nursing facilities. Of the 1.6 million residents in U.S. nursing facilities, approximately half fall annually (AHRQ, 2012). Those who fall will have the tendency to fall again. Falls in older patients can change their quality of life. Because people who fall are terrified of falling again that can affect their daily activities.
Despite numerous clinical, regulatory efforts and huge expenditures, poor quality of care in nursing homes is still a big problem. Falls among nursing home residents happened frequently and repeatedly. 50% to 75% of nursing home residents fall each year. That’s twice the rate of falls for people living in the community. Although 5% of adults 65 and older live in nursing facilities, nursing home residents account for about 20% of deaths from falls in this age group [3].
Having a group of senior citizens following you around for dinner most likely doesn’t sound like a fun night. However, working at a nursing home doesn’t feel like an actual job at all; I actually enjoy spending my nights at the Grand Residence. Not only has this job given me responsibility, but I also have built relationships with many residents. While spending my evenings at a nursing home throughout my high school career, I have come to the realization that I am comfortable and genuinely happy with pursuing a career in patient care in the foreseeable future.
Patient falls in the hospital is a serious issue and challenging problem that could lead to prolonged hospital stay, longer recovery time for patients, increased costs for hospitals, and a source of distress and anxiety for patients, nurses, and families. Patient falls can cause minor or major serious physical injury depending on the situation and the age of the client. In addition to the physical harms, patients can suffer from psychological injuries which make them lose their independence and confidence on themselves and build a lot of anger, distress and fears of falling.
Assessing the reason for the falls would be the first step in the plan. Is there any repetition of the reason behind the fall (Olrich, Kalman, & Nigolian, 2012)? For instance, is there frequent falls at a certain time of the day such as during shift change? Also it may be helpful to know if the fall was related to tethers such as IV poles or Foley catheters. It may also be a good idea to look at the type of patient who fell, is the patient reported to be confused at the time of the fall? Is there any history of dementia reported for the patient that fell? Once all the information is gathered then the pertinent information could be categorized into groups that would help to decipher the best plan of action to prevent falls. The plan would need to be written and approved by the nursing managers and may be put into place by the clinical leaders that are involved with the unit. Although each unit is different some of the ways to prevent falls are similar in all units in the hospital and a team should be formed that would use the inf...
Patient falls is one of the commonest events within the healthcare facilities that affect the safety of the patients. Preventing falls among patients requires various methods. Recognition, evaluation, and preventing of patient falls are great challenges for healthcare workers in providing a safe environment in any healthcare setting. Hospitals have come together to understand the contributing factors of falls, and to decrease their occurrence and resulting injuries or death. Risk of falls among patients is considered as a safety indicator in healthcare institutions due to this. Falls and related injuries have consistently been associated with the quality of nursing care and are included as a nursing-quality indicator monitored by the American Nurses Association, National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators and by the National Quality Forum. (NCBI)
After having attained a Bachelor’s degree in Zoology and a Master’s degree in Gerontology, I felt I should gain some first-hand experience in physical therapy and thus volunteered to work as a caregiver in a reputed Evergreen rehabilitation center Ga. However, while working as a caregiver I realized I needed to learn much more in order to provide better care in meeting the psychological and physical caring needs of the elderly. I have always had the inherent desire to serve the elderly in reducing their hardships and providing them with the much needed physical and psychological support so that they can lead a happy and trouble-free life.