...2016, p. 7). Due to these findings, it is vital that falls prevention programs are implemented, as Mrs Field would be a high-risk of additional falls following her several others; preventing falls not only improves the health and wellbeing of Mrs Field, it promotes hospital avoidance by preventing the main issue, in this case falls (College of Nursing & Health Sciences 2015). Relevant programs that are available in Mrs Fields district is a private in-home physiotherapist offered through the (Government of South Australia: SA Health 2017, p. 15) to provide fall prevention strategies through assessments, education, exercise, balance training, care plans and regular consultations; this service, Xtra Homecare, is designed to allow older adults to live independently as long as possible in their own home. Home assessments and therapy of community-dwelling older adults has proven to have a client centred impact on health, attitude and confidence while also supporting hospital avoidance strategies (Chase et al. 2012, p. 285). Falls prevention will be effective in hospital avoidance due to its nature of building independence and knowledge in avoiding falls, therefore injuries, furthermore hospital visits. Mrs Filed will be provided with the tools and knowledge to gain strength and an understanding of...
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...Running head: LITERATURE SEARCH TO LOCATE RESEARCH ARTICLE According to the reports published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Injury Centre (2007), falls are the third most common cause of unintentional injury death across all age groups and the first leading cause among people 65 years and older (Tzeng, H., & Yin, C. (2008). A hospital can be a dangerous and erratic place for inpatients because of its unfamiliar physical environment (different from their home settings) and because of changes in patients’ medical conditions as related to their physical and psychological health and sensory systems (Tzeng, H., & Yin, C. (2008). The following research articles focus on the nurses’ role in preventing and managing patient falls in the hospitals. As part of the assignment abstract from the articles are included. Literature Search 1: Nurses’ Solutions to Prevent Inpatient Fall in Hospital Rooms. Abstract Patient fall rates are perceived as the indicator that could be most improved through nurse-led safety strategies or interventions. A safety-driven design with a goal to prevent inpatient fall-related injuries should be a hospital design principle. In this qualitative study, researchers used inductive and deductive methods to understand the clinically accessible solutions to minimize the extrinsic risk factors of inpatient falls. The findings from the nurse interviews were compared with the intervention strategies toward...
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...Fall is a serious problem in people with Parkinson’s disease (PD) due to the nature of the disease that impairs gait, motor, and cognition (Canning, et al., 2015; Gao, et al., 2014; Mirelman, et al., 2011). Sixty percent of people with PD fall annually and two-third of them fall repeatedly (Canning et al., 2015). Falls may lead to injury, pain, functional decline, fear of falling, and reduction in quality of life (Canning, et al., 2015; Gao, et al., 2014). Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of exercise interventions that could prevent or reduce fall incidence in people with PD. Computerized literature searches were conducted using CINAHL and PubMed. For CINAHL, “fall prevention” AND “Parkinson’s disease” were used...
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...Falls and Risk Management Margaret Simon NUR 492 April 25, 2016 Dr. Rachel Gonzales Falls and Risk Management In the hospital setting falls are prevalent for various reasons. According to Sullivan (2013), “Risk management is a component of quality management, but its purpose is to identify, analyze, and evaluate risks and then develop a plan for reducing the frequency and severity of accidents and injuries” (p. 77). This paper will address falls as a risk management issue; discuss methods to identify patients as a fall risk, methods to implement to reduce falls, and how to inform all staff of seriousness of fall issue. Furthermore, a comparison of three other facilities and their methods will be discussed and compared to the VA hospital's plan of action. Hospital Plan for Identifying Falls Every patient that enters the hospital is required to have a fall assessment on the admission, and if the staff feels a patient's status has changed, it is completed again. The fall assessment template addresses cognitive status, hearing and vision issues, and gait and balance problems. Other information collected is his or her ability to use assistive devices such as canes, walkers, and crutches. Other information gathered is a medication list, a history of falls, and medical conditions such as vertigo. Another major issue is the environment at home, not enough lighting, rugs, stairs, and animals. In the hospital setting the number of falls is increasing clutter...
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...Annotated Bibliography Weiss, Josie A. "Preventing teen pregnancy by avoiding risk exposure." American Journal of Health Studies Fall 2010: 202+. Academic OneFile. Web. 16 May 2013. This site gave information on a theory of what adolescent girls think about teen pregnancy. The purpose is to promote a healthy future for these girls by doing research, giving point of view perspective, and highlighting future goals as oppose to teen pregnancy. It gives me the “why” of teen pregnancy and “how” teen girls are pressured and if they get through the pressure and how they battle they’re obstacles. There are numerous resources, most of reliable sites. The author of this has a PhD, PNP, FN-BC, and FAANP; she is also an associate professor. The article was released in the fall of 2010 so it may differentiate in statistics slightly. All-in-all I would use and recommend this resource to someone else, due to the trustworthy sources. Office for Adolescent Health, . "Teen Pregnancy and Childbearing." U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Office of Adolescent Health, 07 Dec 2012. Web. 16 May 2013. . This site provided information about trends in teen pregnancy and childbearing. The purpose of this article is simply to inform. It’s informative and uses a lot of graphs and charts. The information provided is updated as of December 07, 2012 but the sources are updated as of April 29, 2013 so the stats are up to date as possible. The authors of this article are not listed...
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...Research Critique, Part 2 Jennifer Bullard Grand Canyon University Introduction to Nursing Research NRS433 Martha Schmidt October 07, 2012 Research Critique, Part 2 The purpose of this paper is to critique an article on the circumstances and characteristics of why patients fall in the hospital setting. The article being critiqued defines a fall as an unexpected drop from a sitting, standing, and lying position, which include an assisted fall (where someone helps guide them to the floor), slipping from a chair to the floor, and when a patient is found on the floor (Hitcho et al., 2008). This critique will discuss data collection, data management, analysis, and interpretation of the findings. The Washington University Institutional Review Board gave their approval for this study. Written consent was waived due to the fact that this study was part of a hospital-based project to improve quality. The study did not pose any risks to the patients as the patients were not put in any situation to induce a fall, and no precautions were taken away from patients that prevent falls. Several sources and a comprehensive fall data collection tool was used to collect data on the patients that fell during their hospitalization which included: the database of adverse events, the electronic medical record, the paper chart, and patient/ family interviews, where no objections to being interviewed were noted (Hitcho et al., 2008). The variables that were identified in the study were the...
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...Change in Nursing Practice Jamie L. Eden Walden University NURS 4001-5, Research and Scholarship for Evidence-based Practice November 16, 2013 Change in Nursing Practice A patient who is admitted to a facility may be alert, oriented, and independent in ambulation. Add on intravenous (IV) tubing attached to a pole, a telemetry monitor, a foley catheter, and new medications for the patient. This patient now has fall risk factors. The purpose of this paper is to describe and evaluate change in preventing falls in the hospital setting. Falls in Hospitals Patient safety is number one in hospitals. Every staff member that comes into contact with a patient should always have the question, “Will the patient be safe?” in the back of their mind. Mistakes do happen just as patients do fall in hospitals even with prevention strategies. There are between 700,000 to 1,000,000 falls in hospitals in the United States (Preventing falls in hospitals: A toolkit for improving quality of care, 2013). If a patient falls any number of serious injuries could occur, such as bruising, lacerations, fractures, hemorrhaging, and even death. The costs of treating a patient for injuries as a result of a fall while in the hospital is not reimbursed by Medicare as of 2008 (Preventing falls in hospitals: A toolkit for improving quality of care, 2013). Not only will the facility not get reimbursed for costs related to the fall, the patient may likely have a longer length of stay and could potentially...
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...where I needed to improve my provided care or in which direction to instruct my team to focus their time on. This paper will discuss statistical information that use at a local community medical facility, where I am employed, Alliance Health Deaconess, where I am currently employed as a medical-surgical and oncology registered nurse. Statistical Information How Statistics are used at my Workplace: There are many memos and emails that are passed around to the nurses that management and administrators hope that we read and absorb. In all honesty, they are glanced at and tossed aside the majority of the time. On rare occasions, we are handed graphs and charts that explain what they expect and shows us specifically what needs to be improved upon. Since our jobs are to care for the sick and hurt, this information is not tossed aside and is typically taken more seriously. One main focus for the nursing staff at my facility is safety scores. We have two medical-surgical floors, one including oncology and the other orthopedics, one intensive care unit, and one step-down intermediate care unit. We all share the same safety goals that are in place to insure our patients not only receive the best possible care but also remain injury free while that care is being provided. Each unit is given a score from 0 to 100 percent based on quarterly fall occurrences and prevention measures. Comparisons are made between each medical floor...
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...Fall Prevention Falls are the leading cause of fatal and nonfatal injuries for persons over 65 years old. Falls can be linked to several factors such as several medical, cognitive and functional factors. There are several factors as well as situations that can increase fall risk such as unsteady gait, vision and cognitive impairment, incontinence and environment (Huey-Ming, 2011). In 2005, a sum of 15,802 individual over 65 years of age reportedly were injured from falling and died. In 2006, 1.8 million estimated individuals over 65 years old incurred some kind recent injury related to falls (CDC, 2006). However, the number of uninjured older adults that fell or had minor to moderate injury is unknown. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the issues of falls on the geriatric unit that I am employed and the changes necessary to decrease the numbers of falls on this unit. Problem Identification The geriatric unit in the hospital where I work has an average census of 36. On this unit patient falls are the most prominent problem. According to the hospital data in the past six months, there has been an average of two falls a day and twenty injuries related to falls. The number of patient falls has increased by 35 percent in the past six months. The goal of the fall prevention program is to reduce falls percentage by 30 percent (three falls a week) for the next three months and maintain it at a maximum of one fall a month thereafter. Falls affects the safety of the patients...
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...Benchmark - Research Critique Part 1 Meprina Joseph Grand Canyon University: NRS-433V 07/14/2016 Accidental falls account for 70% of all hospital accidents. The fall rate for inpatient hospitals varies from 1.4 to 17.9 falls per 1000 patient days (Vlahov, D., Myers, A.H., & al-Ibrahim, M.S. 1990). As healthcare providers, it’s our obligation to study and expand new ways to help keep our patients safe by maintaining a hazardless environment to help prevent inpatient incidents. The topic which is being critiqued is forecasting and evaluating fall danger in a critical inpatient rehab environment. This study analysis will scrutinize the revision and classify its problematic report, reason and study question, literature assessment, and the conceptual/ theoretic framework applied. Problematic Report There are many reasons behind the indications of patient falls, such as: drug use, age, psychological state, and decreased movement. Another indicator of patient falls includes diagnoses like brain damages, strokes, and other orthopedic situations, which have been proven to rise one’s risk to fall. With each environment being different from the next, the risk factors will then vary depending on the setting. Patients in critical therapy signify one of the utmost at risk inhabitants for falls during hospitalization. This may be due to a combination of factors including the primary goal of inpatient rehabilitation, which is to increase patient mobility with a population that...
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...role of the Nurse Falls have become very common with older adults living in the community and long-term care facilities. The purpose of this paper is to research an issue, in this case falls, that impacts the healthy aging of older adults living in the community. This paper will discuss why this topic is important to healthy aging, what the nurse’s role is and what some interventions are to try and lower the rate and risk of falls that the older adult experiences. Falls can have a devastating effect on the older adult and it is important to do everything possible to try and make sure this does not happen. As one ages, his/her bones and muscles may begin to atrophy and his/her gait changes which can all increase his/her risk for a fall. It is important because having a fall and possibly an injury could completely change how an older adult lives his/her life. There are many statistics on how prevalent falls are in the society of today’s older adult. According to the Canadian Institute of Health Research (2005), “among older adults, falls are the leading cause of injury deaths and the most common cause of nonfatal injuries and hospital admissions for trauma” (as cited in Theris, Kathleen, Veronique and Lynn, 2012, p. 188). Also, according to Manitoba Health (2005), older adults, those over the age of 65, have a nine times greater chance of a fall injury than those who are not (as cited in Butler-Jones, 2009). According to Cumming (2000), falls do not only have a physical...
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...Research Studies The science in psychology introduces the thoughts that most have about how the human mind functions and questions that some have about behavioral issues. To receive more acceptances from society theories are tested through research. To do researches a research question are obtain to gather more information, depending on the research different scientific method shows different ways on obtaining results. Different types of data are obtained through research. Typical Research Articles Each section on a research paper serves a vital part to a research project. A typical research paper has seven main parts which includes abstract page, title page, an introduction, results and discussion, method, a references page and title. The title page illustrates the main topic of the research study, including the important variables. The abstract provide the reader with a quick review of the article’s content. The introduction serves as the body of the paper. It introduces the reader to the overall issue or problem that is being tested and to provide justification for the hypotheses or hypothesis. The method purpose is to provide a detailed description of how the study was conducted. Results purpose is to describe what was found after statistically analyzing the data. The discussion section reviews, interprets, and evaluate the results of the study. The reference page is to help you find related articles for any topic you need to research....
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...REDUCING FALLS IN THE HOSPITAL SETTING Abstract “Falls and fall related injuries are the most commonly reported adverse event among adults admitted to inpatient setting. Up to twenty percentages of patients admitted, reported falling of at least once during an inpatient hospital stay period” (Oliver, Healey, & Haines, 2010). The author works at a city hospital located in Gilbert, Arizona and encounters a great amount of orthopedic patients along with other general surgery patients. All patients that are on that floor are at a risk of falls during the first 48 hours after surgery due to anesthesia that is still in the system and pain medication that is scheduled to help ease the patient during the post-surgical time frame. One of the side effects of anesthesia exiting the body is nausea and vomiting which can make the patient feel dizzy and lightheaded, thus making them a great risk for falls. This has been the reason that the topic was chosen; to attempt to improve this issue in the hospital setting and to provide a system in which all hospital staff collaborate to help increase the quality of patient care. The location that is being observed is the post-surgical/orthopedic floor where the author is currently working. A description of risks and concerns are provided and patient outcomes depend on implementing the proposed interventions. The two solutions that are presented are hourly rounding and the importance of an improved nurse call light button and education on proper...
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...number of older adults requiring long-term care of some kind increases. These adults have varying needs, but most adults have problems with skin integrity, muscle weakness, and emotional issues in long-term care facilities. Interventions to meet these needs focus on preventing skin break down, improving muscle strength to prevent falls, and settings that promote usefulness and a feeling of not being alone. Current options available to older adults may not meet all of their needs, and creativity is needed in devising interventions to meet these needs. Structuring long-term care settings to encourage activity in older adults and connecting with other generations can help prevent feelings of loneliness and uselessness, and help older adults live meaningful and productive lives in long-term care settings. Long-Term Healthcare Needs of the Elderly As adults age many will require long-term health care. The evolving needs of the older adult population will require creative and new ways to meet their health care needs. This paper will look at the needs older adults have, and options that are currently available to meet these long-term care needs. This paper will also present new options that have been proposed for long-term health care settings, how these options compare with current interventions, and what outcomes can be expected if these new options are implemented. The Problem As life expectancies increase the older adult population will also increase. According to the 2000...
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...According to the Centers for Disease Control, “diabetes affects 25.8 million people, 8.3% of the U.S. population” (Center for Disease control and Prevention, 2012, par 1). Twice as many African Americans are likely to develop diabetes than Caucasian Americans. These statistics represent how serious diabetes has become for the black community. Epidemiology can focus healthcare efforts and interventions to help lower the incidence of diabetes of the African Americans. This paper will focus on the role of epidemiology in the observation of the frequency of diabetes in the morbidity and mortality of American of African decent. This paper will also include the definition and description of epidemiology, epidemiological methods, the epidemiological triangle, types of epidemiology, and prevention that is related with diabetes in the African American community. Definition and Description of Epidemiology Epidemiology is defined as, “the study of the distribution and determinants of health-related states or events in specified populations, and the application of this study to control of health problems.” (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2012, p. 243). Epidemiology has provided an understanding of the factors, which contribute to health and disease, and the development of health promotion and disease prevention measures. The purpose of epidemiology is to find the causes of the disease that affect a population. Epidemiology has influences on both...
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