Question: Respond with 150 words and contribute 2 ideas as recommendation
Falls are one of the major causes of mortality and morbidity in older adults. Every year, an estimated 30-40% of patients over the age of 65 will fall at least once. Falls lead to moderate to severe injuries, fear of falling, loss of independence and death in a third of those patients. Falls account for 87 % of all fractures in the elderly. These fractures are almost always due to low impact injuries in osteoporotic bones. Several organizations have recommended screening older patients to identify those with a high risk of falling and, or fractures.
Working in the long term setting I have witnessed so many preventable falls in elderly population. Currently our fall numbers are very high. I would like to implement my plan on a group of patients like 30 patients at time. Just to see how it works. I will really like to involve my CNA's for that station and have meeting with them to know more basics to prevent those falls. Reason involving CNA's, I want to reach to root cause of fall and wants to plan individualized interventions.
References: Ambrose, A. F., Cruz, L., & Paul, G. (2015). Review: Falls and Fractures: A systematic approach to screening and prevention. Maturitas, 82, 85-93.