In an ideal world, everything goes perfectly according to plan. One would be introduced to the world, gets the experience and education as one lives through the days of its life and time would come that they will get old and comfortably reminisce how they managed through their lives while stand outside of their porch. But sadly, no matter how much we wish for it, there is no such thing as perfection. For the much older adult, even the slight miscalculations can lead to fall related accidents. Consequently, mishaps like these can definitely impede the quality of one’s life. Prevention is never a job done by one but rather of a team, who are working independently toward with a goal in unison. Teamwork is an effective tool in integrating measures to prevent fall related incidents among older population.
Fall is a serious cause of unintentional injuries. It is defined as to drop or descend under the force of gravity, as to a lower place through loss or lack of support. (Dictionary.com) Statistics have shown that 28 – 35% of the population with ages 65 years and over fall each year and it escalates to 32 – 42% for people 70 years and older. (World Health Organization, 2007) This topic is an interesting subject to discuss, as fall injuries that lead to death are alarmingly high. According to World Health Organization, Canadians 65 years and above have a mortality rate of 9.4% in a population of 10,000. The occurrences of falls are relative to the increase of frailty and age and the need for medical attention in such cases should be a priority. (World Health Organization, 2007)
Nurses take on the leadership role as the initiator to a multidisciplinary approach in preventing falls to the older population. Using a holistic method in improving the quality of life, the nurses can collaborate with the interprofessional care team that are client – centered and with an ultimate