Prevalence of Fall Among Geriatric Patients - Paper Example

A. Prevalence of fall among geriatric Patients

It is not easy to deny that the condition of falls among the elderly and geriatric patients has been a problem whose solution and management requires a deep understanding of certain comparable factors. As research has found out, the elderly have increased rate of suffering from falls or fear of losing body balance and toppling or stumbling. To summarize the results from a review on falls-related risks factors on the elderly by Ambrose, Paul, and Hausdorff (2013), falls causes is one of the basic causes of morbidity and mortality in most adult patients. The research has also found that 30 to 40 percent of old people from 65 years and above suffer severe injuries, loss of balance, fear of falling and death at higher rates. The health expenditures on fall-related injuries are higher in Europe (1.5%) than the US (0.1), and the risk factors include polypharmacy, gait, impaired balance and falls history in the patients with the condition. Other studies have shown that geriatric falls are the primary causes of injury to the elderly patients and the prevalence of the condition has reduced whenever certain preventive measures and care are administered. Coussement et al. (2008) observe that falls causes 95% of injuries and death to geriatric patients and the preventive approaches highly reduce the cases of falls and the related outcomes such as injuries and death. The preventive and management measures that can Combine the findings from these studies, it is fair to say that falls are the major causes of physical injuries to elderly patients especially those who are not under any preventive and management measures such as bone strengthening, muscle function or balance.

B. Importance of Falls in Nursing practices

The knowledge in treatment and management of falls is a fundamental tool as nurses are caregivers who deal with all sorts of patients with various conditions and age brackets. For this reason, the knowledge in falls builds on the competence and experiences of nurses thereby enabling them to provide a multifaceted individualized care aimed at reducing fall-related injuries and deaths in the elderly patients. Nurses, unlike other carers, are highly likely to spend more time with patients, therefore, are better placed to set standards for managing falls. Insufficient nursing competence in this area may result in premature home admissions for nurses.

C. Risks factors for falls in Elderly

There exists a close relationship between falls and morbidity and mortality rates, body functionality, and disability among elderly geriatric patients. The literature on the condition (Chelly et al. 2008) indicates the fall rates of patients admitted in a community hospital were 95%, and the related injuries were 98% as a result of the fall factors. This is a uniform relationship yet rampant despite the numerous efforts and measures that have been put forward to prevent these instances. Age matters a lot in the falls outcomes as 80-year-olds have fallen and injured themselves more often than 50 year-olds. While there is no much information showing the relationship between falls and gender, (Gale, Cooper & Sayer, 2016; Latt et al. 2016) highlight that female patients are more likely to suffer this condition than male. Almost all studies agree that history of falls and the related medical conditions, foot and vision problems are some of the factors that have made falls a common condition (Shorr et al. 2015). None of the reviewed articles reveal how frequent adults who exercise a lot suffer from falls; hence it is prudent to say that lack of or insufficient exercise, and a healthy diet contribute to falls in the older adults.

D. Interventions to prevent falling in elderly subjects

Various techniques have been identified as ways through which falls can be prevented or managed among the elderly patients. Latt et al. (2016) and Shorr et al. (2015) reveal that there are numerous multifactorial assessments as well as interventions that can prevent falls include physical therapy/exercise, management of the home environment, minimized psycho-active medication, intake of vitamin D, managing foot problems. In hospitals, management interventions included walking aids, frequent comfort rounds, appropriate non-slip footwear, utilization of relevant reorientation strategies, ambulation, call bells and bed alarms.

References

Ambrose A. F, Paul G, &Hausdorff J. M. (2013). Risk factors for falls among older adults: a review of the literature. Maturitas; 75:5161

Coussement J, De Paepe L, Schwendimann R, Denhaerynck K, Dejaeger E, Milisen K (2008). Interventions for preventing falls in acute- and chronic-care hospitals: A systematic review and meta-analysis. J Am Geratric Soc.; 56(1):2936.

Chelly J. E, Conroy L, Miller G, Elliott MN, Horne J. L, Hudson M. E (2008). Risk factors and injury associated with falls in elderly hospitalized patients in a community hospital. J Patient Saf; 4:178183

Gale, C., Cooper, C., & Sayer, A. (2016). Prevalence and risk factors for falls in older men and women: The English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. Age And Ageing, 45(6), 789-794. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ageing/afw129Latt M. D, Loh KF, Ge L, Hepworth A. (2016). The validity of three fall risk screening tools in an acute geriatric inpatient population. Australas J Ageing. Mar 15; Epub

Shorr R. I, Mion L. C, Chandler A. M, Rosenblatt L. C, Lynch D, Kessler L. A (2008). Improving the capture of fall events in hospitals: combining a service for evaluating inpatient falls with an incident report system. J Am Geriatric Soc. 56:701704