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Older Adults At Risk Essay

764 Words4 Pages

First, who’s at risk for falls? As stated earlier, generally older adults 65 and over are at risk for falls but this doesn’t mean that every adult that fits in this age range is at risk. There are certain risk factors to look out for that make you more at risk for falls. Most falls can be linked to a combination of risk factors. Some of these risk factors are lower body weakness, vitamin D deficiencies, difficulties with walking and balance, use of certain medications, vision problems, foot pain or poor footwear, and home hazards (CDC, 2015). Individuals who fall into one or more of these categories are at risk, no matter what age group they fall under. However, due to the physiological changes that occur during the aging process, this makes older adults at a higher risk than any other group.
According to the Ohio Department of Health, older females have a higher risk for non-fatal fall-related injuries (Ohio Dept. Health, 2011). In fact, in 2011 females age 65 and over fall-related injuries skyrocketed, in comparison with males (Ohio Dept. Health, 2011). In spite of this, older males are at a greater risk for suffering a fatal fall, even though there was a greater number of fatal falls among older females between 2002 and 2011 (Ohio Dept. Health, 2011). Furthermore, older adults who have …show more content…

Actually healthcare workers can be helpful when implementing steps to prevent falls as well as give information for fall prevention programs. Nonetheless, carrying out the proper actions to avoid falls is quite simple and effective. As mentioned above, attending a fall prevention programs are one of the many was to learn how to prevent falls. According to the CDC, aside from fall prevention programs, doing prescribed exercises at home and changing your home environment are also examples (CDC,

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976 Words | 4 Pages

Capstone Project: Falls Prevention and Risk Assessment of the Elderly Population while in Long Term Care facility Evidence Based Practice – NUR 4775L Dr. Susan Poole, DNP, CNE November 22, 2015 Capstone Part I: Falls Prevention and Risk Assessment of the Elderly Population while in Long Term Care facility Introduction to Problem According to Centre for disease Control (CDC) more than 1.4 million people 65 and older live in nursing homes. If current rates continue, by 2030 this number will rise to about 3 million (CDC, 2014). Nursing home residents are at an increases risk for falls depending on the acuity of their illness and their mental state.

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The conclusion of the article was that hourly rounding that has leadership involvement and staff that buy into the program is an effective fall prevention program. This conclusion was based off the results from the study. This review was of good quality. Hourly rounding and patient falls was a study that was conducted to see if hourly rounding was an effective fall prevention strategy. The study involved 2 units.

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669 Words | 3 Pages

Change is inevitable not only in the hospital setting but also in all other organizations that put the safety of stakeholders at hand. It is, however, sometimes challenging to have all stakeholders adopting a proposed change since some individuals would rather stick to the old ways of doing things as opposed to trying out new interventions (Guse, Peterson, Christiansen, Mahoney, Laud, & Layde,, 2015). Nevertheless, positive change is essential, especially when such a change is expected to positively impact on the safety of patients (Johnson, Veneziano, Green, Howarth, Malast, Mastro, Moran, Mulligan, & Smith, 2011). The purpose of this paper is to critique the adoption of hourly rounding as a nursing intervention for preventing falls.

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In the case of women, the risk increases mostly due to living longer. B. According to the same Mayo Clinic article, some evidence indicates that other health factors such as type 2 diabetes, smoking, heart disease, and obesity might also put you at a higher risk for Alzheimer’s disease. Connective/Transition: Now that we’ve discussed some risk factors, let’s move onto the causes and effects

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Present the Evidence: Prevention of Patient Falls According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), each year, one third of those who are 65 and older fall (2013). These falls contributed to $34 billion in direct medical costs in 2013 (cite). With these statistics, it is apparent that health care professionals and health care settings need to make fall prevention a priority in their facilities. The aim of this paper is to explore a fall prevention policy and practice guidelines to evaluate recent evidence and offer recommendations.

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(Joint Commissions, 2014).It is important for nurses to explain how to use the call light to the elderly patients, and also to ask for help before getting out of bed. Vulnerable patients should be placed close to the nursing station for close monitoring. It is very important to educate health care workers on the approaches used to prevent falls. The measures used to prevent falls in the elderly could include; carrying out a risk assessment during admission, placing colorful stickers outside their doors, stopping the use of psychotropic medications, teaching them the best way to use their assistive device, placing their call light and belonging within their reach, placing their beds in the lowest position with brakes /wheels locked at all times, removing throw rugs from their surroundings, making sure that they are wearing non-skid shoes/socks before ambulating and also giving them their prescribed Vitamin D supplement as well as encouraging them on the use of their corrective glasses or hearing aids. It is very important to educate health care workers on the approaches used to prevent

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303 Words | 2 Pages

1. Were you previously aware of how rapidly the aged population is growing? Yes, I am aware of how rapidly the aged population is growing. Working for the Center for Senior Care has given me the sight to how much the population has grown.

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It also provided the use of critical thinking and clinical judgment on how to prevent falls, support, and be accountable for a client professionally. The practical knowledge I have learned helped me become aware of assessing and assisting a client. As a nurse, our job is to provide “safe, compassionate, competent and ethical care” (p.8) and collaborate as an interprofessional team to deliver safe care and prevent risks from happening while offering quality nursing care (CNA, 2017). I will always provide the professional care under the code of ethics to promote health and wellness for an older adult and prevent risks from happening. As well as following the plan of care, use communication strategies, be aware, acknowledge, and accommodate individuals with different diseases such as with dementia, to promote fall prevention strategies (RNAO, 2017).

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427 Words | 2 Pages

Working on the burn and wound unit which is a step-down from the burn ICU, the patient population varies in age with the youngest aged 17 to a patient that was 106. People get burned through many mechanisms such as fire, hot liquid, or electricity and falls are a small reason why the patients get burned. Falls play a small role as to why our patients get burned. Our focus however, is fall prevention once they reach us. Patients who get burned are considered fall risks for multiple reasons; from the opioids they will receive while staying with us, to mobility issues due to their injuries.

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893 Words | 4 Pages

This helps your balance and agility, and can help prevent falls at older

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Cooper, C., Selwood, A., & Livingston, G. (2008). The prevalence of elder abuse and neglect: a systematic review. Age and ageing, 37(2), 151-160. Department of Heath (2000) No Secrets: Guidance On Developing and Implementation of Multi-Agency Policies and Procedures to Protect Vulnerable Adults from Abuse.

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709 Words | 3 Pages

This program, called the Nijmegen Falls Prevention Program, included one hundred thirteen elderly clients with a history of falls. Exercise sessions were held twice a week for five weeks with fall monitoring done before and after the experiment. Control assessments were also done continuously thru the study to determine client changes in standing balance, balance confidence, and obstacle avoidance skills. The results of the Nijmegen Falls Prevention Program showed that the number of falls within the exercise group dropped by a significant forty six percent! Not only less falls, but obstacle avoidance skills dramatically improved as did balance

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645 Words | 3 Pages

I’ve spent the last thirteen years falling. Most of the time I defy gravity, but there are many times when I don’t, and land flat on my back instead. One of the first times I experienced this was at five years old, when my mother enrolled me and my sister into a gymnastics class. At the time, for my mom this decision seemed like the right thing to do; her daughters would stay active and healthy from a young age just as she did growing up. Little did my mom know that almost thirteen years later I would still be in love with the sport.

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866 Words | 4 Pages

The incident happened because of lack of attention given to patient. We manage to mobilized her to the chair and reassured her. We also follow the standard procedure of patient’s fall which is to check on her vital sign and physical for any post trauma injury. The Department of Health Western Australia (2015) listed that checking the potential injury and the vital sign was the Immediate post-fall procedures that all nurses accounted to.

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1044 Words | 5 Pages

In the UK, over five hundred thousand abuse against elderly people occurred each year. These abuses can occur anywhere, including in someone own home, residential home or hospital. Both older men and women can be at risk of abuse, though the majority of victims are women over the age of 70’s. There are five common types of abuse; physical, psychological, financial, sexual abuse and neglect. Where does elderly abuse to place Elder abuse tends to take place where the senior lives: most often in the home where abusers are often adult children, other family members such as grandchildren, or spouses/partners of elders.

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