Fall Prevention in Elders

[Name of the Institute]

Fall Prevention in Elders

Practice Question using Question Development Tool

The number of falls and fall-related injuries is continuously increasing with an increase in the aging population worldwide. Adults are frequently falling victims to incidents that are related to fall. Falls cause injuries that range from acute to fatal. Falls are increasing the mortality and the morbidity rates worldwide in older adults. Various intervention programs and mechanisms are required to be introduced in order to prevent falls from occurring in older adults. The issue of fall prevention in adults holds crucial significance because falls can prove to be fatal for older adults. Additionally, the issue of falls is increasing the mortality rates and health-related costs to an enormous extent. Fall prevention typically occurs in older adults who are above the age of 60.

Presently, several intervention practices, fall prevention programs, physical activity/exercise programs, and motion detection tools are being applied in order to reduce the number of falls in older adults. Clinicians and nurses are providing appropriate guidance to patients so that they take precautionary measures in preventing falls from occurring. The focus of this problem is clinical as it involves the clinicians and nurses to help the patients in resolving the problem. This problem is identified due to the safety concerns of patient. Patients are turning to hospital in enormous numbers due to the issue of falls. Additionally, this problem is not problem of several individuals (Yates & Tart, 2012). Instead of that, it is a problem that is faced by the population in large.

The possible search terms in order to carry out a research on this topic include fall prevention, adults, aging, elder, fall-related injury, exercise, physical activity, interventions, and falls. The evidence that is required for this practice question include family/patient preferences, clinical expertise, expert opinion, guidelines and most importantly extensive literature search. The practice question of this research paper is as follows:

How can the occurrence of incidents related to falls be prevented in older adults?

Article Appraisal using Research Evidence Appraisal Tool

Article no. 1: “Update on falls prevention for community-dwelling older adults: Review of single and multifactorial intervention programs”

This article is related to the practice question of the research as its objective is to study the subject of fall prevention in older adults. Every program has its advantages and shortcomings. This article evaluates the different types of fall prevention programs and their effectiveness.

In their article, Costello and Edelstein have identified the problem of increase in fall-related injuries with an increase in the aging population. The researchers have carried out a critical analysis of the literature to evaluate the effectiveness of fall prevention programs (Costello & Edelstein, 2008). The literature search instruments are mentioned in this article, including all the electronic databases that have been used. The major search terms are also defined. The inclusion and exclusion criteria of the included studies are also defined in a detailed manner. A total of 522 studies are included in this article which is a sufficient sample ...