Volume : 4, Issue : 12, December - 2015

Impact of Demographic factors on Patient�s fall�s Risk Management in a Tertiary Care Hospital in NCR.

Ms Monica Gupta, Mittal Ashok, Sabherwal Nikita, Ms Ginny Kaushal

Abstract :

<p>Falls have been known for decades by health care professionals as an etiology for injury, but were not seen as an important independent marker of frailty until more recently. They are associated with a high mortality that is not always explainable by the fall injury itself (Tinetti et al 1995). The most common injuries related to falls include head injuries, wrist fractures, spine fractures and hip fractures. Falls can also cause injuries that are not visible to others, for example some people who experience a fall become fearful and worried that they will fall again.Being hospitalized increases a persons risk for falls as hospitalized persons are often weak from their illness. They may also be giddy, light-headed or unsteady from their illness, medications, or other treatments. Getting out of bed unassisted in the hospital is a very common reason for falls. Walking to the bathroom without help also puts patients at risk for falls. Even patients who do not need help at home, can fall in the hospital when getting up without assistance.The most important thing a patient can do to prevent falls while they are in the hospital is to ask for help when getting up out of bed. Many demographic factors like age and gender have an impact on patient fall statistics. NABH Standards and International patient safety Goals focus on the importance of reducing patient falls in healthcare settings and how timely prevention and early risk detection can lead to patient safety. This study is an attempt to identify gaps in risk assessemnt of patients at risk of fall in the current healthcare settings, finding the major contributors leading to increase probability of fall and give recommendation to enhance good practices in the future. Aim: The aim of the study is to analyse the impact of Demographic factors on Patient&rsquo;s fall&rsquo;s Risk Management in a Tertiary Care Hospital in NCR with help of a self-administered questionnaire. The study will also assess the level of information shared with the patient regarding fall risk and the ease of use of infrastructure provided to the patients. Settings and Design: The design of our proposed study is a descriptive study where we will use a self-administered questionnaire to assess the level of awareness of patient regarding Fall Prevention in the selected study setting. Methods and Material: The NABH Standard were used as a guideline for preparing the self-administered questionnaire. All admitted vulnerable patients of the selected study area will consist of the population for the study. Simple Random sampling technique will be used to derive the sample out of the population. Statistical analysis used: Frequency tables, Correlation and MANOVA were used to establish associations between the independent and dependent variables. Results: As the results show that gender had no impact on the probability of patient falls but age played a role in affecting the probability of patient falls. Specifically patients above 40 had a higher risk of falling. Conclusions: Early risk assessment and patient education are important to prevent patient falls. Certain predisposing factors like demographic factors, patient charecteristics should be considered when assessing the risk and special attention should be given to patients who are more vulnerable</p>