Falls and Older Adults

Falls and Older Adults

Introduction

Fall is one of the leading causes of injuries as well as death in older adults. As a matter of fact, this problem is more prevalent among the people who are over the age of 65 years. Falling, however, is not normal, since the older adults are vulnerable to certain changes that make falling as one of the potential problems. For instance, sensory changes, deformation of bones, reduced response of reflexes and lack of vigor are some of the causes of such problem. These physical as well as mental changes affect the walking and balance of a person, especially that of an older adult (Chang et. al., 2010).

This is one of the serious problems in the hospital settings. Although the solution of such a kind of problem is possible, yet is a tedious one. In this particular regard, the role of Geriatric Assessment tool is pivotal. The proper detection and prevention mechanism is the key to solve this problem, which can better be performed using a Geriatric Assessment tools. For this purpose, this paper utilizes “Hendrich II Fall Risk Model”. In addition to that, its description as well as the implication would also be a part of the paper.

Background of Problem

Falls, as a matter of fact, is one of the most common occurring adverse hospital events, with greater than one millions occurring on an annual basis. Falls rate in US hospitals ranging from 3.31 to 11.5 fall events per 1000 patient-days (Dykes et. al., 2010). These rates vary according to the type of units; however, the largest rates are in the medical and neuroscience. On an estimate, approximately 30% falls ends up having a type of injury while that of 10 percent result in a serious injury. This is one of the serious concerns since 22 percent of total hospitalized patients consist of older adults who are of 75 years or older (Wier et. al., 2010).

This is one of the leading causes of the injury related visits to the emergency department in the hospitals of United States. Ironically, the mortality rate of falls increases significantly with age in both males and females and in all of the ethnic and racial groups. Fall, however, may represent poor health and morbidity. Other than that, more than 90% of the fracture pertaining to hip happens as a consequence of falls, where the average age of person is 70 years (Fuller, 2000). Patients, as a matter of fact, are not impeccable to fall. In that regard, hospitals are employing the optimum amalgamation of technology, attention and processes to reduce the number of falls significantly and ultimately the injuries they cause to patients.

Over the period of time, this issue has proliferated at an agile pace yet did not come into limelight. There seems a lack of research as well as proper protocols which can adequately issues such kind of serious issues. Lack of prevention practices, proper protocols, and diversified fall prevention programs contributed equally ...