Community Intervention In Elderly Population: A Fall Prevention Project

Abstract

Objective: This article seeks to present a pilot project of community intervention that aims to prevent the occurrence of falls in the elderly in a community setting. Method:It is a prospective study in the temporal relationship, based on Health Planning, it was developed for 9 weeks in a Community Care Unit in the Northern Region of Portugal. Data collection and interventions were performed in the home of 6 of the 12 elderly being followed up at home by the nursing team. Elderly institutionalized and totally dependent were excluded. For the collection of data, an evaluation protocol was filled out using the Morse scale, validated for the Portuguese population, to assess the risk of falls. Results: Of the elderly who underwent nursing interventions, 50%presented a high risk of falls. Epidemiological indicators show that the incidence rate of falls was 0% and the prevalence rate of falls, in the last year was, 37.5%. Conclusion:The data collected was used for the production of epidemiological indicators, structure, process, and results. It is suggested to continue the project for one year, covering a larger sample and subsequent evaluation, and the creation of indicators for informal care providers.

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“…From a careful reading of the selected articles regarding the objective of the study, research emphasizes the reasons for falls of the elderly related to the environment (extrinsic factors) and factors related to the aging process, lifestyle, understood as intrinsic. 6 It is also important to see that falls are very frequent in the elderly, thus indicating a health problem at this age where serious injuries can occur impacting their quality of life with this event. 6 The occurrence of these falls involves a lot of environmental factors, such as inside the houses themselves, where it may be the type of floor of the house, the presence of rugs, excess furniture that makes it difficult to move around the house, poorly lit environments, lack of anti-skidding, presence of steps, sliding during bathing and sitting/lifting of toilet.…”

“…6 It is also important to see that falls are very frequent in the elderly, thus indicating a health problem at this age where serious injuries can occur impacting their quality of life with this event. 6 The occurrence of these falls involves a lot of environmental factors, such as inside the houses themselves, where it may be the type of floor of the house, the presence of rugs, excess furniture that makes it difficult to move around the house, poorly lit environments, lack of anti-skidding, presence of steps, sliding during bathing and sitting/lifting of toilet. 7 The factors of environmental falls offer greater risk, since they are related to structures that the elderly surround in irregular surfaces, often being wet and slippery added to the use of carpets, with differences that favor the imbalance and consequently event of the fall.…”

Falls in the elderly: a reflective study

“…It is well known that the falls occurring in ILPI, occur in rooms and bathrooms, and emphasized the need for of these spaces by the health team. [1][2][3]8 It is observed that the occurrence of falls in institutions is related to sex, as that most of the articles selected indicated prevalence among women. Although there is still no consensus among scholars in the area in question, it is believed that the elderly are generally better off that the elderly and, consequently, greater exposure to the risk of falls.…”

“…However, the risk of falls was cited in all studies as one of the main causes of functional disability. 1,3,18,19…”

“…Aging is a dynamic and progressive process in which there are morphological, functional and biochemical changes, reducing the capacity of homeostatic adaptation to situations of functional overload, progressively altering the organism and making it more susceptible to intrinsic and extrinsic aggressions. 1 It represents the passage of time, not the pathology, being a natural and physiological process, in which the emotional, psychological and environmental experiences make it singular and individual. In this way, two people do not age identically.…”