Fall occurrence in a geriatric psychiatry setting before and after a fall prevention program.
A fall prevention program providing staff education, quantitative assessment of gait and balance, risk factors assessment, and evidence-based interventions was introduced on two geriatric wards of a regional psychiatric hospital. A within-subjects comparison was made of fall occurrence during the 4-month pre-intervention phase and the 4-month post-intervention phase using Fisher's exact test. Among those (N = 23) who survived the duration of the study, significantly fewer falls occurred in the post-intervention time period than in the pre-intervention time period (p < 0.01). Comprehensive assessment, problem identification, and intervention planning by nurses may serve to reduce the number of falls among elderly individuals with severe psychiatric disorders.
Savage
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T
Providence Continuing Care Centre, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
Matheis-Kraft
C
C
D000058:Accidental Falls / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002170:Canada; D005260:Female; D005851:Geriatric Nursing / Q000379:methods*; D005852:Geriatric Psychiatry; D006778:Hospitals, Psychiatric / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods; D011322:Primary Prevention / Q000458:organization & administration*; D011336:Probability; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012307:Risk Factors; D012494:Sampling Studies; D017678:Sex Distribution