title: Assessment of risk and incidence of falls in neurosurgical inpatients.
abstract: Neurosurgical patients may present motor, sensitive and balance impairment and increased risk of falling. The aim of this study was to evaluate the fall-related risk factors and the incidence of falls in the pre and post-operative period of neurosurgical patients. A prospective cohort study with a research population of patients undergoing elective neurosurgical procedures. Ninety-seven patients took part in the study. Eight (8.2%) have presented falls with a total of 12 falls (12.4%). In two falls (16.7%), bed side rails were down, whereas in six falls (50%), beds had no rails at all. There was no difference among fall-related risk factors during pre and the post-operative periods. We have concluded that most falls could have been prevented through an improvement in the hospital internal structure and with the introduction of a falls prevention program.
authors.affiliation: Federal University of São Paulo, Brazil. solandic@denf.epm.br
authors.forename: Solange
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Diccini
authors.forename: Priscila Gomes
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: de Pinho
authors.forename: Fabiana Oliveira
authors.initials: FO
authors.lastname: da Silva
mesh_terms: D000058:Accidental Falls / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007297:Inpatients / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019635:Neurosurgical Procedures / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment