Falls Prevention Key Safety and Quality in Healthcare Order Instructions: For this paper, we are to choose a nursing issue that is related to one of the key safety and quality in health care areas.
The chosen issue is FALLS PREVENTION; Preventing falls and harms from falls in older people. we need to use (5)five primary and/or secondary peer-reviewed articles/studies related to the chosen issue above and summarise, analyze and critique the literature related to this issue. The following criteria must be successfully addressed; Section 1(statement of the issue addressed, this includes an introduction, background to the issues and importance of the issue). Section 2(Critique the literature, this includes rigorous critical appraisal of the study designs and methods, which studies were more rigorous and why the description of the critical appraisal tool used and why it was the chosen tool. we are to go with the CASP tools.
finally Section 3(Findings) this includes presenting individual study findings as well as being able to synthesize (compare and contrasting)the study findings.
Falls Prevention Key Safety and Quality in Healthcare Sample Answer
Falls Prevention
Falls result in physical injury to patients. At times, the injuries could be severe necessitating hospitalization or even causing death. The elderly have a higher predisposition to falls than their younger counterparts. As people age, their mobility diminishes and when accompanied by events such as deteriorating eyesight, people get an elevated risk of falls and physical injuries (Zhang, Shuai, & Li, 2015). So as to prevent falls, it is necessary to first assess the level of risk that people have to the occurrence. Measures that would prevent falls would be addressing and resolving factors that predispose people to falls. In most cases, interventions work best when they address baseline risk factors.
Falls Prevention Key Safety and Quality in Healthcare Background
The prevention of injury has been a challenge in the care of elderly patients. It is common for old people to experience unintentional falls though most of them are nonfatal (Rosen, Mack, & Noonan, 2013, Pg. 61). Hospitalized elderly patients face a high risk for falls. The state of being ill coupled with the effects of treatment and the unfamiliarity of the environment are the major reasons for the high predisposition of hospitalized patients to falls (Dykes, Carroll, Hurley, Lipsitz, Benoit, Chang, & Middleton, 2010, Pg. 1912). Patients who fall are more likely to experience subsequent falls than those who do not (Leavy, Byberg, Michaëlsson, Melhus, & Åberg, 2015). Patients develop the fear of falling and end up limiting their movement and losing their mobility (Dykes et al., 2010, Pg. 1912). Falls have their associated financial losses in addition to health complications. For instance, there would be a need for extra treatment, and patients may have to stay longer in hospitals hence raising the cost of their care. Previously, people did not address falls as clinical problems worth much space in discussions. Increased awareness that there are significant severe consequences of falls has motivated the emergence of falls prevention programs. Such programs offer suggestions to practices that would minimize the occurrence of falls in high-risk groups (Child, Goodwin, Garside, Jones-Hughes, Boddy, & Stein, 2012).
Importance of Exploring Falls Prevention among Old People
There is significant data indicating that falls are common occurrences among the elderly (Child et al., 2012). On a yearly basis, a third of people aged sixty-five years and above experience at least an instance of a fall (Child et al., 2012). Again, though some programs have initiated various preventive measures, they do not depict the expected results due to various hindrances (Child et al., 2012). It would be important to research on the matter and give a satisfactory response regarding the established and novel methods of preventing falls. The issue is also necessary in the clinical setup considering its broad range of impacts. People may get long-term pain, lose the functionality of their organs, require admission in a care home, and incur financial losses (El-Khoury, Cassou, Charles, & Dargent-Molina, 2013). Exploring preventive measures of falls would be important as it would also facilitate the minimization of the associated undesirable effects of falls.
Falls Prevention Key Safety and Quality in Healthcare Literature Critique
There has been extensive research on falls prevention especially among elderly patients. Some of the studies employed clustered randomized trials where participants were from different settings (Dyke et al., Pg. 1912). Such studies were appropriately described and they had such aims as determining how effectively measures such as health information technology reduced falls in hospital settings. There were also secondary sources that incorporated literature review as their primary sources of data. Such studies had objectives such as that of informing clinicians on practical evidence-based solutions to fall prevention among the aged (Al-Aama, 2011, Pg. 771). The method of research applied fitted the study purpose as it involved reviewing studies to establish practices that reduced the occurrence of falls among the elderly hence being excellent choices for clinicians. The method also allowed the researcher to explore multiple aspects of falls simultaneously. The scientists referred to literature when addressing the pathophysiology of falls, its risk factors, screening and assessment, prevention, as well as its treatment (Al-Aama, 2011). The findings were particularly vital for clinicians.
There were also studies that employed systematic review in their design (Bloch, Thibaud, Dugué, Brèque, Rigaud, & Kemoun, 2010). Studies that employed the technique had objectives such as determining the effectiveness of fall prevention strategies in preventing the occurrence of injuries that result from the falls (El-Khoury et al., 2013). Systematic review studies extracted articles from authoritative databases such as CINAHL, Cochrane library and EMBASE. The studies exploited the most appropriate methods of data synthesis to critique their sources (El-Khoury et al., 2013).
There were secondary sources that focused on the causes of falls. Some of the studies employed a systematic review and referred to previous research studies to generate their conclusions. Such studies were motivated by a high occurrence of falls and its related injuries among other factors. Research indicated that drugs used by patients posed a significant threat to the development of falls in patients (De Jong, Van der Elst, & Hartholt, 2013, Pg. 147). The researcher purposed to examine the epidemiology, risk factors, and treatment strategies (De Jong, Van der Elst, & Hartholt, 2013).
CASP tools served as appropriate approaches to critiquing literature concerning various subjects on fall prevention that researchers had investigated. The tools addressed studies such as randomized trials, systematic reviews, and qualitative studies (CASP, 2013). Different checklists matched the design of research that researchers had applied.
Falls Prevention Key Safety and Quality in Healthcare Findings
Studies offered varied interventions to falls and their associated injuries. Researchers found that people subjected to falls had to embrace the new technology as it led to reduced risks for falls. They found the healthcare demands for falls patients to be above 30% higher than in other patients (De Jong, Van der Elst, & Hartholt, 2013, Pg. 148). The research gave informed discussions of treatment approaches and found them to be active in reducing the impact of injuries resulting from falls. There were also other studies discussing treatment approaches to the problem. The strategies included the use of medications that focused on the etiology of the falls. Cardiac arrhythmias and orthostatic hypotension were examples of conditions whose treatment reduced the risk of falls (Ungar, Rafanelli, Iacomelli, Brunetti, Ceccofiglio, Tesi, & Marchionni, 2013, Pg. 93). Studies that explored the effectiveness of preventive measures found the tools to cause a significant reduction in the cases of falls compared to their absence in management. The results implied that physicians should apply the preventive tool kits so as to lower the risk of falls for their patients (Dykes et al., 2010, Pg. 1912). In the determination of practices that lowered the risk of falls among patients, researchers identified exercises as a crucial factor (Burton, Cavalheri, Adams, Oakley Browne, Bovery-Spencer, Fenton, & Hill, 2015). In the studies concerning barriers to the implementation of preventive strategies, researchers found the process of applying preventive measures to be multifactorial and demanding critical considerations (Child et al., 2012).
Falls Prevention Key Safety and Quality in Healthcare References
Al-Aama, T. (2011). Falls in the elderly: Spectrum and prevention. Canadian Family Physician, 57(7), 771–776.
Bloch, F., Thibaud, M., Dugué, B., Brèque, C., Rigaud, A., & Kemoun, G. (2010). Episodes of falling among elderly people: a systematic review and meta-analysis of social and demographic pre-disposing characteristics. Clinics, 65(9), 895–903. http://doi.org/10.1590/S1807-59322010000900013
Burton, E., Cavalheri, V., Adams, R., Oakley Browne, C., Bovery-Spencer, P., Fenton, A. M., … Hill, K. D. (2015). Effectiveness of exercise programs to reduce falls in older people with dementia living in the community: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Clinical Interventions in Aging, 10, 421–434. http://doi.org/10.2147/CIA.S71691
CASP. (2013). Critical Appraisal Skills Program. Retrieved from http://www.casp-uk.net/#!casp-tools-checklists/c18f8
Child, S., Goodwin, V., Garside, R., Jones-Hughes, T., Boddy, K., & Stein, K. (2012). Factors influencing the implementation of fall-prevention programmes: a systematic review and synthesis of qualitative studies. Implementation Science : IS, 7, 91. http://doi.org/10.1186/1748-5908-7-91
De Jong, M. R., Van der Elst, M., & Hartholt, K. A. (2013). Drug-related falls in older patients: implicated drugs, consequences, and possible prevention strategies. Therapeutic Advances in Drug Safety, 4(4), 147–154. http://doi.org/10.1177/2042098613486829
Dykes, P. C., Carroll, D. L., Hurley, A., Lipsitz, S., Benoit, A., Chang, F., … Middleton, B. (2010). Fall Prevention in Acute Care Hospitals: A Randomized Trial. JAMA : The Journal of the American Medical Association, 304(17), 1912–1918. http://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2010.1567
El-Khoury, F., Cassou, B., Charles, M.-A., & Dargent-Molina, P. (2013). The effect of fall prevention exercise programmes on fall induced injuries in community dwelling older adults: systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. BMJ : British Medical Journal, 347, f6234. http://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.f6234
Leavy, B., Byberg, L., Michaëlsson, K., Melhus, H., & Åberg, A. C. (2015). The fall descriptions and health characteristics of older adults with hip fracture: a mixed methods study. BMC Geriatrics, 15, 40. http://doi.org/10.1186/s12877-015-0036-x
Rosen, T., Mack, K. A., & Noonan, R. K. (2013). Slipping and tripping: fall injuries in adults associated with rugs and carpets. Journal of Injury and Violence Research, 5(1), 61–69. http://doi.org/10.5249/jivr.v5i1.177
Ungar, A., Rafanelli, M., Iacomelli, I., Brunetti, M. A., Ceccofiglio, A., Tesi, F., & Marchionni, N. (2013). Fall prevention in the elderly. Clinical Cases in Mineral and Bone Metabolism, 10(2), 91–95.
Zhang, X.-Y., Shuai, J., & Li, L.-P. (2015). Vision and Relevant Risk Factor Interventions for Preventing Falls among Older People: A Network Meta-analysis. Scientific Reports, 5, 10559. http://doi.org/10.1038/srep10559
