Characteristics and Risk Factors for Falls in Tertiary Hospital Inpatients

Abstract

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution NoDerivs License. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0)If the original work is properly cited and retained without any modification or reproduction, it can be used and re-distributed in any format and medium. Purpose: The aim of this study was to explore characteristics of and risk factors for accidental inpatient falls. Methods: Participants were classified as fallers or non-fallers based on the fall history of inpatients in a tertiary hospital in Seoul between June 2014 and May 2015. Data on falls were obtained from the fall report forms and data on risk factors were obtained from the electronic nursing records. Characteristics of fallers and non-fallers were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Risk factors for falls were identified using univariate analyses and logistic regression analysis. Results: Average length of stay prior to the fall was 21.52 days and average age of fallers was 61.37 years. Most falls occurred during the night shifts and in the bedroom and were due to sudden leg weakness during ambulation. It was found that gender, BMI, physical problems such elimination, gait, vision and hearing and medications such as sleeping pills, antiarrhythmics, vasodilators, and muscle relaxant were statistically significant factors affecting falls. Conclusion: The findings show that there are significant risk factors such as BMI and history of surgery which are not part of fall assessment tools. There are also items on fall assessment tools which are not found to be significant such as mental status, emotional unstability, dizziness, and impairment of urination. Therefore, these various risk factors should be examined in the fall risk assessments and these risk factors should be considered in the development of fall assessment tools.

Factors Influencing Falls in High- and Low-Risk Patients in a Tertiary Hospital in Korea

“…Gait disturbance regardless of the use of ambulatory aids showed a significant influence on the occurrence of falls, which is similar to the findings of previous studies. 2 , 20 Even if an institution has an effective fall prevention program, patients need to be aware of their walking ability and seek help from those around them including medical staff if they want to walk safely with a cane or walker. The risk of falls in the patients taking narcotic analgesics, vasodilators, antiarrhythmics, and hypnotics was 2.64, 3.82, 2.14, and 1.64 times higher, respectively, than those who did not take such drugs.…”

“…The present study used data stored in a database created for a previous study 20 and was approved by the institutional review board of the study hospital (IRB 2015-0742 Ver3.0). To ensure reliability in the data collection process, researchers developed criteria for reviewing data from the case reports.…”

“…However, one study found that 51.9% of the patients who experienced falls had been classified as low-risk patients using the MFS. 20 Similarly, a study by Jang and Lee 21 found that many falls occurred in patients classified as low risk. This finding may have occurred because of poor predictability of the MFS; this also suggests that all patients are at risk for falls, and it is necessary to provide fall prevention interventions to all patients.…”

Risk Factors for Falls in Tertiary Hospital Inpatients: A Survival Analysis

“…낙상군과 낙상 비발생군의 특성은 성별(χ 2 =5.21, p =.022), 연령(t=-7.01, p＜.001), BMI (t=2.78, p =.006), 수술여부(χ 2 =6.44, p =.011), 주요 질환 중 심 혈관계(χ 2 =8.97, p =.003), 신경계(χ 2 =39.51, p＜.001), 근골격계(χ 2 =4.26, p =.039), 암(χ 2 =20.97, p＜.001), 소화기계(χ 2 =8.71, p =.003), 그리고 동반질환유무(χ 2 = Cox et al, 2015;Poe, Cvach, Gartrell, Radzik, & Joy, 2005) Choi, E. J., et al, 2017;Cox et al, 2015…”

Development and validation of the fall risk perception questionnaire for patients in acute care hospitals

“…Many risk factors for falls in hospitals have been identified (Barker et al, 2011; Najafpour et al, 2019). Most patients in acute care hospitals have acute illnesses, and the acute physiological condition changes they undergo can also contribute to falls (Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality, 2013; Choi et al, 2017; Lim et al, 2018). Fall risk can also be increased by various medications and medical equipment commonly used to treat illnesses (Choi et al, 2017), as well as the unfamiliar environment of the hospital (Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality, 2013; Lim et al, 2018) and hospital environmental hazards (Avanecean et al, 2017).…”