Preventing Elderly Falls

444 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: Fall prevention introduction

If you have noticed your elderly parent is stumbling, tripping, or falling frequently, consider consulting a hip surgeon. Not only can a medical evaluation inspect your parent’s joints and bones for fractures and more involved breaks, but they can also give you advice on how to prevent these dangerous falls and fractures. Here are a few tips to reduce your elderly parent’s risk of falls and fractures. During a Fall During a fall, the hip bone will receive a large portion of your parent’s bodyweight. This intense force causes the fracture. Most elderly individuals will experience severe pain at the site of the fracture. This pain can spread through their entire body. In most cases, an elderly person with a hip fracture will not be able to …show more content…

Remove any throw rugs that are on the floor. These rugs may add appeal to the home, but they can slippery for your elderly parent. In the bathrooms of the house, install safety bars next to the toilet and in the exterior and interior of the shower and bathtub. Place rubber grips on the floor of the shower and bathtub, as well. These rubber grips will give your elderly parent some traction while bathing. Check the handrails on any stairs in and around your home. They should be securely attached to the wall. Make sure to remove decorations or other clutter from the stairs to reduce your parent’s risk of falling. A hip surgeon will also discuss the benefits of exercise for elderly patients. Exercise strengthens muscles, joints, and cardiovascular health while improving endurance and flexibility. This increases the elderly’s ability to walk in a safe, effective manner. After a Fall If your elderly parent’s fall has resulted in a hip fracture, treatment will depend on the location of the fracture. Many elderly patients will require a partial hip replacement that removes the head and the neck of the femur before replacing with artificial

Show More
Related

  • Osteoporosis Case Study

    1184 Words  | 3 Pages

    10. What parts of the skeleton are most vulnerable to the ravages of osteoporosis? Since the elderly are at risk of getting osteoporosis especially in older women. The most common are areas of the body to get this disease would be the spine, ribs, wrist, hip and in the arm. Which in this case was the reason Margaret obtained her hip fracture.

    Read More

  • Total Hip Replacement: A Case Study on Osteoarthritis

    676 Words  | 2 Pages

    I carried out this case study on Mrs. Casey (Pseudonym), any 86 year old woman who underwent an elective left total hip replacement (THR). After the OT student studied Mrs. Casey's past medical history in her medical chart, it was noted that she had previously undergone a right THR in 2011, which had been successful and free from complications. Ms. Casey had no other significant past medical history and had been an independent and active woman before the progression of her arthritis. Ms. Casey was required to have total hip replacements carried out on both hip joints as a result of severe Osteoarthritis (OA), which lead to stiffness, pain, and an eventual decrease in mobility, affecting her quality of life and involvement in meaningful occupations.

    Read More

  • The Joint Commission: National Patient Safety Goals for Medicare Based Long Term Care

    1595 Words  | 4 Pages

    Jr, K. R., & Barber, C. E. (2011, August 29). Preventing falls in the elderly. Retrieved from http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/consumer/10242.html

    Read More

  • Falls Risk

    1387 Words  | 3 Pages

    The prevention of falls in the long term care facility is one of the most important interventions the health care team can do to ensure the safety of loved ones under their care. According to the Summary Data of Sentinel Events Reviewed by the Joint Commission (2016), there were 806 falls between 2004-2015 with 95 of those occurring in 2015 . As health care providers, we have a responsibility to incorporate interventions that will help protect the patient while under our care. Interventions as simple as ensuring the use of a gait belt by any team member that transfers the patient, to making sure all team members are aware of the medications that can make certain patients more of a fall risk, will help in the prevention of falls.

    Read More

  • Falls Risk Assessment Case Study

    1214 Words  | 3 Pages

    Fatigue, decreased mobility and impaired balance from the rheumatoid and osteoarthritis pain also increases the risk of falls (Stanmore et al., 2013). Age related changes such as sarcopenia causes muscle tone and strength to decrease, especially in the lower limbs and as a result, balance and gait become impaired (Culross, 2008). These factors significantly influence the risk of falls and also affect the ability to carry out daily activities therefore, with a physiotherapists assistance, the nurse could introduce a personalised exercise regime to enhance muscle tone and strength (Culross, 2008). According to Neuberger et al (1997), exercise lessens fatigue and improves muscle tone and balance in older people. Recommending an exercise programme for Mrs Jones that incorporates strength training exercises and aerobics, could potentially improve muscle tone and strength and as a result improve mobility, balance and lessen the risk of falls (Bird, Pittaway, Cuisick, Rattray & Ahuja, 2013). The nurse could also suggest safety precautions such as advising Mrs Jones to use a mobility aid (Gooberman-Hill & Ebrahim,

    Read More

  • Patient Falls Case Study

    1329 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Environmental Modifications to Avoid Elderly Falls

    886 Words  | 2 Pages

    From the literature researched, the writer thinks that environmental modifications along with multifactorial interventions can make a difference for falls that an elderly can receive. Still, he thinks that there should be more research done on environmental assessment tools, flooring, and effective behavioral interventions. On his last thoughts, he believes that strategies should be patient focused and environmental modifications should be developed for that individual.

    Read More

  • Prevention of Falls and Fall Injuries in the Older Adult

    1440 Words  | 3 Pages

    This document’s purpose is to assist nurses to identify elderly patients at risk for falls and to implement interventions to prevent or decrease the number of falls and fall related injuries (RNAO, 2005). The target population are elderly adults in acute or long-term care. The recommendations are to help practitioners and patients make effective healthcare decisions, support nurses by giving educational recommendations, and to guide organizations in providing an environment receptive to quality nursing care and ongoing evaluation of guideline implementation and outcomes. These guidelines stress and interdisciplinary approach with ongoing communication and take patient preferences into consideration.

    Read More

  • Elderly Abuse: Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect

    4574 Words  | 10 Pages

    Though this checklist is not all encompassing it provides simple guidelines a person can easily look to in order to put his/her mind more at ease and feel secure in placing a loved one in a nursing home facility. Because there is no guarantee against elder abuse occurring in nursing homes it is important that the resident, where possible, and the family of the resident remain involved on a daily basis and demand the quality of care the elder person deserves.

    Read More

  • Patient Fall Prevention

    2176 Words  | 5 Pages

    The Quality and Education for Nurses (QSEN) project has set several goals for future nurses to meet in terms of knowledge, skills, and attitude (KSAs), one of which is safety (2014). The definition of safety according to QSEN is minimizing risk of harm to patients through system effectiveness and individual performance (QSEN, 2014). Since falls are such a huge occurrence in health care, preventing falls is critical for patient safety. The Joint Commission (2011) has also noted fall prevention as a National Safety Patient Goal (NPSG) 09.02.01 requiring hospitals to reduce the risk of harm resulting from falls.

    Read More

  • Prevention of Falls in Hospitalized Older Adults

    2941 Words  | 6 Pages

    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...

    Read More

  • Prevention of Patient Falls

    1134 Words  | 3 Pages

    When taking steps to analyze and apply intervention strategies for falls, we must examine the factors that cause these occurrences. There are numerous reasons that falls occur, such as intrinsic and or extrinsic risk factors. Intrinsic risk factors for falls may be due to changes that are part of the normal aging process and acute or chronic conditions. According to Zheng, Pan and Hua et al. (2013), about 35-45 percent of individuals who are usually older than 65 years and other 50 percent of the elderly individuals report cases of fall every year. Extrinsic factors are those related to physical environment such as lack of grab bars, poor condition of floor surfaces, inadequate or improper use of assistive devices (Currie). Patient falls is not an easy thing to eliminate. With many clinical challenges, there’s no easy answer to the challenges posed by patient falls; howe...

    Read More

  • Falls Prevention

    655 Words  | 2 Pages

    Falls are the leading cause of injuries, disabilities, and deaths among community-dwelling older adults (Moyer, 2012). According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, 2016), each year one out of three community-dwelling older adults aged 65 years or above falls at least once. There is a need to identify effective interventions pertinent to the primary-care setting to prevent falls among older adults living in the community. The guideline titled “Prevention of falls in community-dwelling older adults: U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommendation statement” is focused on determining the effectiveness and harms of different fall-prevention interventions relevant to primary care for adults aged 65 years or above (Moyer,

    Read More

  • Essay On Advantages Of Nursing Theory

    992 Words  | 2 Pages

    It has utility for professional nursing in the areas of nursing practice, nursing education and administration.The self-care approach is contemporary with the concepts of health promotion and health maintenance.Additional patient can get benefit from home visit by occupational therapies,physiotherapy and doctors and nurses.The home usually can be modified so that narrow doorways,stairs and bathtubs did not interfere with ability to manage personal needs.Many families cannot afford to pay for extensive alterations or move to more convenient living quarters.Safety is an important considerations when making adaptions to a home.Many areas of the home can be made safer through the removal of throw rugs and furniture that may cause an accident as move around the house or apartment.Further more assistant devices such as grab bars can assist patient in using the toilet ,tub or shower and can be installed at strategic spots in the bath room.A raised toilet seat and tub bench maybe helpful.A hand held shower can be attached to the bath or shower faucet so a shower may be taken while seated.Plastic strips that adhere to the bottom of the tub or shower help guard against falls.Long handled brushes, washing mitts with pockets

    Read More

  • A Multidisciplinary Approach to Patient Care

    1966 Words  | 4 Pages

    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...

    Read More

More about Preventing Elderly Falls

Open Document