Abstract
Falls are the most common issue for elderly in medical institutions and can cause injury or death; this increases the burden and cost of medical services. Objective: This study investigated the reasons hospitalized older cardiology patients fall. The results of this study can be used to develop preventive intervention measures in the future. Methods: This qualitative study used purposive sampling to recruit two elderly cardiology patients who had fallen during their hospital stay. A semi-structured interview outline was developed based on literature review and expert consultations. Data was collected through individual face-to-face interviews and then analyzed using content analysis. Results: The participants in this study were males aged 65 and 70 years. The interviews with the participants focused on falls and their prevention; the results were compressed into the following three dimensions: 1. Self-perception of health: The patient's perception and thoughts about changes in their health and their understanding of their ability for self-care. 2. Review on the fall incident process: The patient's recall of the fall and analysis of the potential causes. 3. Hospital patient safety: The patient's examination from the user 's perspective of whether the hospital software and hardware met the basic requirements for fall prevention. Conclusion: The above findings on the main reasons of fall in elderly patients having heart disease provide an important reference for medical term is that patients misunderstood that they have good physical condition and do not need assistance. The findings also demonstrated that inadequate assistant devices, caregiver careless and inappropriate equipment in institutions can cause patient falls. In additions, insufficient nursing staffing might leads to lack of time to educate patients about fall prevent which is one of the reason of falls. Therefore, it should gather the attention to the shortage of nursing staffing.
Translated title of the contribution | Fall risk assessment and prevention in elderly with heart-related diseases |
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Original language | Chinese (Traditional) |
Pages (from-to) | 17-26 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | 彰化護理雜誌 |
Volume | 24 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 1 Sep 2017 |
Keywords
- Heart disease
- the elderly
- fall
- nurse-to-patient ratios