Strategies To Reduce Falls In Long Term Care Falls Case Study

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).

“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

“For example, these nurses developed a standardized manner with consistency and coherence to perform fall assessment and documentation as well as collect the patient information regarding fall prevention” (Breimier, Halfens, & Lohrmann, 2015, p. 8).Participants identified the Falls CPG included useful recommendations, were helpful in decision making, for each field (Breimier, Halfens, & Lohrmann,

In the absence of evidence to support a population-based approach to prevention and the imperative to deliver cost-effective and efficient services, health care providers need risk assessment tools that reliably identify at-risk populations and guide intervention by highlighting remediable risk factors for falls and fall-related injuries. Such tools typically consist of a rating or scoring system designed to reflect the cumulative effect of known risk factors for the purpose of identifying those at greatest risk for sustaining a fall or fall-related injury [*]. Historically, fall risk tools have focused on institutional settings with little attention to tools tested in community settings. Of the reviews that do include community dwelling seniors, tools are typically limited to the assessment of balance with little consideration of other risk factors [*].

The purpose of the facilitated session is to provide caregivers, seniors and family members with the information needed to prevent the risk of falls at home. The learning outcome will show that participants are able to understand why and how to prevent senior falling at home. The learner will be able to comprehend the various resources and tool that will help in showing the steps that needed to project seniors risk of falls.

The investigation and analysis: The issue is patient falls in the acute care setting. In looking at this issue, I researched all the falls that had occurred on my unit and pulled patient charts and researched RN and CNA documentation, procedures, medication records etc. to be able to start seeing correlations / similarities between the falls. I pulled NOEs (notice of events) our facility internal method of tracking falls. In reading documentation most falls were during the

Falls are triggered by multifaceted factors with numerous dangers that include either long or short term influencing factors. The connections between these factors may be altered by the person?s age, ailments, illnesses, diagnoses such as Parkinson?s, stroke, diabetes mellitus and arthritis, or their surroundings. The major fall risk factors for elderly include their advancing age, loss of muscle strength, unsteady gait, impaired balance, incontinence of bowel or bladder, depression, cognitive impairment, due to

Many people believe that falling is a normal part of the aging process and that if a person lives long enough they will eventually suffer a fall. It is true that some of the physiological changes that occur in every older adult as a normal part of the aging process do increase an older adult’s risk of falling. However, a fall does not need to be the end result in each of these situations. There are certain activities and strategies that can be undertaken by the nurse in health care settings in order to lower the risk of these falls occurring. It is especially important for nurses in health care facilities to assess older clients for their fall risks and then to plan and implement strategies and activities that will lower those risks.

In the peer reviewed article Management of Falls in Community- Dwelling Older Adults, the authors clearly explain how an individualized patient assessment must be done to identify potential fall risk factors. Medical history of the patient, body functions, activities, participation and cognition are some of the aspects to take in consideration regarding an old adult health care. Beside those factors, environmental hazard is one of the most common causes of falling in old people even when they are healthy (Avin, Keith G, ; Hanke, Timothy A; Kirk-Sanchez, Neva; McDonough, Christine M; Shubert, Tiffany E; et al, Jun 2015). Because elderly

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

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.

Environmental changes are another evidence-based strategy that can also assist in the reduction of inpatient falls. The lowering of bed rails, limiting the use of restraints and providing floor mats can be used in preventing patient falls. Bed rails should only be used as targeted strategies in situations where they are effective in minimizing the risk of inpatient falls and only be used on patients who are not active enough to be able to climb over bedrails (Wood et al., 2010).

Evaluation of the project outcome is critical in assessing whether the fall reduction programs are productive and of benefit to the participants or in other words, assessing the general value of the program (Miake-Lye et al., 2013). In this case, the rate of falls and potential resultant injuries and the overall adoption of fall prevention practices are critical components of quality improvement of the program. They are crucial parameters for evaluating the success of the implementation project as well as learning from the successes and the challenges herein. In the case of this project, it is anticipated that there will be a decrease in the rate of falls among the patients. It is also expected that the number and severity of injuries due to

Falls are easily one of the biggest safety risks to any patient in acute or chronic care. Falls themselves can result in secondary problems that can change a patient’s life and every precaution should be taken to prevent falls in the first place, no matter where care is being given. Many precautions and plans have been made by many different types of health professionals to help assess and prevent the risks and decrease the probability of falls. The majority of the patients in hospitals and acute and chronic care centers are a fall risk and their safety is top priority. Increased education and implementation of fall safety will help nursing staff provide better care for their patients. If the same type of precautions, education, and care were given in every facility, the amount of falls could decrease dramatically. Hospitals are prime examples of a facility that makes fall safety one of their top priorities (Neiman, 2011). In centers like nursing homes and long term care facilities, the nursing staff can become less vigilant about implementing fall safety plans to their highest potential. The differences are little, but have a significant impact on the likelihood of a patient falling. The same risks are everywhere.

Falling is inevitable at some point in life, and although most of the time falls are not serious, some can be life-threatening. Falls are a danger to both physical and psychological well-being because they may diminish a person’s ability to maintain an active and independent lifestyle.1 There are many factors that place individuals at risk for falls such as age, muscle weakness, difficulty with balance or walking, psychological diagnosis, and several medical conditions.1,2 Approximately one-third of people over the age of 65 fall at least once a year.3 Individuals that are status post stroke are at an increased risk of falls, making falls assessment and prevention a common priority for clinicians treating this population.1,2 Therefore, to direct the experimental methods and build on a basis of previous literature on this topic, the search began using OneSearch, CINAHL, PubMed, and