How to Manage Hip Fractures Hip fracture is one of the most common injuries that occur mainly among of older individuals. Evidently, it restricts the ability of the patients to move freely without the help of any other individual. Moreover, it also causes significant pain and disruption of life to frail patients, which is why it is imperative to handle them with extraordinary care. It is clearly evident that these patients need continuous attention and care from other individuals, which is why it is considered a very challenging area in the field of nursing. After joining the profession of nursing, I soon came to realize that people with hip fracture are usually in the dire need of the caring nurses for their activities of daily living. For that reason, I spent significant time helping and aiding the patients that have hip fractures during my service. I remember one of my patients named John, whose upper femur was broken as the result of a fall in the bathroom. His doctor opted the Open Reduction Internal Fixation (ORIF) to repair the fracture with the help of plates, nails, screws, and pins. I provided an egg-crate mattress for this patient, keeping in view his particular condition and high pain levels. …show more content…
I learned from this article that pneumatic compression stockings and anti-embolism stockings can also be used instead of ankle exercise. As the article stated, "anti-embolism stockings, pneumatic compression stockings, and anticoagulants will help prevent the deep vein thrombosis” (Pellino, 1994). Moreover, the article also discussed a lot of other helpful interventions to assist the patients with hip fractures, including assessing the patient's skin integrity and applying moisturizing lotions. In sum, this exercise has significantly increased my understanding about taking
A 49 year old man who goes by the name of Martin was admitted into hospital with fractures in his left tibia and fibula and clavicle that he endured from a motor accident he was involved in. It is reported that there was a total of 146,322 personal injury road traffic accidents in the UK in 2014. (Department for Transport 2015). Surgery has been scheduled for Martin within the next day or two to fix the fractures he received in the accident; he is in a lot of pain. A fracture is to break a part, especially a bone (Weller, Pratt, and Barbara F 2014). Martin also mentioned that he has been feeling stressed recently from working a lot of overtime he is the bread winner in his home. In order to meet Martins health needs, provide person centered care and a range of services, a variety of professionals from the multidisciplinary team will be involved in his care delivery using a model of care (Roper-Logan-Tierney Model of Care 1996).
Patients may present with pain in hip which is due to subarticular increased intravenous pressure in early stages of osteonecrosis marrow oedema, necrosis and also due to increased intracystic pressure associated with degenerative changes of hip in advanced stages of necrosis. In advanced stages, there may be collapse of femoral head, cheilus formation with adhesions around the periphery of femoral head and associated contracture of articular capsule which causes pain due to its stretching effect over t...
Falls can happen at any time and place in a hospital setting. It is a major patient safety issue causing injury, distress and even death. According to Debra Hain (2012), “In 2010, there were 2.35 million emergency room visits for non-fatal injuries in older adults with over 25% requiring hospitalization” (pg. 251). Falls can interrupt a person’s quality of life but also have a financial effect on the healthcare system (Hain, 2012). Falls are preventable and in order to reduce the rates for falls nurses must be more vigilant in their assessments to identify patients that are at risk, especially for those undergoing hemodialysis.
If patient safety is the most important issue in Health Care facilities then how come hospital inpatient falls continue to be the most reported of all accidental falls (Tzeng & Yin, 2009)? Throughout the years, hospitals continue to make changes to decrease the risk of accidents and increase the quality of patient safety. With research studies and improvements made, patient falls still hold the largest portion of reported incidents in hospitals (Tzeng, & Yin, 2008). According to Tzeng & Yin (2008), “fall prevention programs apparently do not effectively reduce inpatient fall rates because of human factors and ergonomics in a hospital environment (p.179, para. 2). The two studies reviewed in this paper were performed with the hopes of decreasing the high fall rate among inpatients.
Rush, K. L., Robey-Williams, C., Patton, L. M., Chamberlain, D., Bendyk, H., & Sparks, T. (2009). Patient falls: acute care nurses' experiences. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 18(3), 357-365. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2702.2007.02260.x
The Scenario for this paper looks at a patient who is currently in the hospital due to a broken hip. He is a retired Rabbi with mild dementia. There are several issues within the scenario that could be addressed but there are three that are acutely noticeable that can be concentrated on and resolved if there is an awareness of nursing sensitive indicators (NSI). These NSI are pressure ulcer and restraint knowledge and staff education.
This Preusser (2008) case study involves a 75 year old female, S.P., who fell at home and is admitted to the orthopedic ward for an intracapsular fracture of the hip at the femoral neck (p. 183). Assessment data includes her height is 5’3”, weight is 118 lbs, blood pressure...
The nursing process is one of the most fundamental yet crucial aspects of the nursing profession. It guides patient care in a manner that creates an effective, safe, and health promoting process. The purpose and focus of this assessment paper is to detail the core aspects of the nursing process and creating nursing diagnoses for patients in a formal paper. The nursing process allows nurses to identify a patient’s health status, their current health problems, and also identify any potential health risks the patient may have. The nursing process is a broad assessment tool that can be applied to every patient but results in an individualized care plan tailored to the most important needs of the patient. The nurse can then implement this outcome oriented care plan and then evaluate and modify it to fit the patient’s progress (Taylor, C. R., Lillis, C., LeMone, P., & Lynn, P., 2011). The nursing process prioritizes care, creates safety checks so that essential assessments are not missing, and creates an organized routine, allowing nurses to be both efficient and responsible.
Intertrochanteric fractures disable further the already incapacitated elderly patients. Intertrochanteric fractures increases the morbitity and mortality chances in elderly patients because of lack of mobility.(1,2) Intertrochanteric fractures has become a more common problem in elderly patients because of increased life expectancy and osteoporosis.(3,4)
Elderly are very prone for falling because of their age and health conditions. Nurses have to take appropriate steps for client’s safety and health. For example, taking vital signs and performing assessment after the injury for any changes in client’s level of consciousness. According to RNAO (Prevention of Falls and Fall Injuries in the Older Adult), nurses’ need to monitor and make frequent visits to clients’ room to prevent falls. Nurses should observe client’s behavior and needs to keep close observation on clients who are at high risk for fall. Especially the clients, who use walkers, nurses and staffs should remind them to use walkers at all time and tell them to call bell if they need anything. Make sure that clients wear eyeglasses if they have, wear proper shoes and their environment should be kept clutter free. Nurses can encourage clients to do stretches and exercises to strengthen leg muscle and take vitamin supplements if they need it. To decrease falls, always position the bed to the lowest height and non-slip mattress that is also
The role of the nurse in rehabilitation is extremely important . The rehabilitation nurse has to have certain skills to help patient into regaining her optimal level of function and to reintegrate back into society.
Nurses specialized in the care of orthopedic conditions may assist your physician in providing care. In addition, these nurses will help you to understand your treatment plan and can answer many of your questions.
You identified several nursing diagnosis for the patient in question, I’d like to add that each of these diagnosis will require interventions with short and long term goals. For example, as you mentioned “The altered mental status would also impact this patient’s perception of danger and his own related to his hip fracture". Altered mental status is a common chief complaint among older patients, with this patient the altered mental condition is most likely age related. A short term goal example for this patient could be as follows: after two hours of nursing intervention, the patient will be calm and report improvement with his ability to cope with is confused state. Along term goal example could be that within 12 hours
Adding physical therapy in a nursing home setting can help not only with the mental and physical health of the residents, but also with the number of fall-related injuries that can occur. The addition of physical therapy can help slow down the effects of aging in the body and give the resident a less painful recovery. Many people believe that decreasing the amount of pain in a resident’s life will improve their mental health in the way that they will be able to enjoy life's simple activities to the fullest. Improving a resident’s mood will help avoid a sense of anger and confusion. Anger can increase frustration; which might lead the patient to attempt to stand, which results in a fall from lack of strength.
The older adults’ immune system begins to decline with age making them more susceptible to infections and other diseases. In addition, they are frail due to musculoskeletal changes. Older adults have difficulty recovering from illnesses, or injuries. According to the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research study, “women ages 65–69 who break a hip are five times more likely to die within a year than women of the same age who don’t break a hip.” (Permanente, 2011) Furthermore, the risk for death continues to rise for women older than 69 years old who break their hip. I strongly considered the elderly as a vulnerable population that needs to especially care for.