Abstract

This study was done to learn how the incidence of falls was related to certain, selected factors such as ambulatory state, sex, location of occurrence and time of occurrence in the nursing home chosen for the study and to make recommendations for increasing the safety of nursing home patients.

The descriptive-survey was the method used in the study. The data were made available in the form of 235 incident reports which had been collected over a five-year period in the selected nursing home. There were 213 of these records which described falls of various types so the study was limited to an analysis of these records.

The need for the study was expressed by the nurse-manager of the selected nursing home and substantiated by a review of the literature regarding nursing homes and safety for geriatric patients.

When tabulated the data revealed that most of the falls studied were falls out of bed. The patients who were free to ambulate as they desired had more falls than other patients. Men had more falls out of bed than women. The sex of the patients involved did not seem to be a significant factor in the incidence of other types of falls, nor did the time of day seem of great significance. More falls occurred in the bedrooms than any other location. Second to these were falls in the bathrooms. Altogether falls happened in nine locations.

From these findings it was concluded that because only two falls in the bathtub occurred during the five-year period of the study the conclusion might be drawn that adequate safety measures were used in this area. Also, because falls were found to occur in all areas available to patients it might be concluded that no location is entirely safe for patients in relation to falls.

Based on the findings of this study, it was suggested that: use of low or high-low beds be encouraged; adequate side rails be used judiciously on all beds; beds with castors have adequate brakes or stops; a call system be available by every toilet; staff and patients receive instruction in prevention of falls; and that ambulation devices be checked for safety routinely.

Further studies could seek to discover the relationship of diagnosis to falls among elderly patients; the location of falls as related to the amount of time spent in the various locations by patients; the incidence of falls by two or three hour time periods; the distribution of falls according to the ages of all the patients in the selected nursing home; how much safety instruction is given to nursing home patients and how much of such teaching is effective; and the injuries sustained from various types of falls.

LLU Discipline

Nursing

Department

Nursing

School

Graduate Studies

First Advisor

Winifred Edwards

Second Advisor

Matilda Anabelle Mills

Third Advisor

Bernice Hawkins

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Degree Level

M.S.

Year Degree Awarded

1964

Date (Title Page)

6-1964

Language

English

Library of Congress/MESH Subject Headings

Accidents; Nursing Homes

Type

Thesis

Page Count

viii; 65

Digital Format

PDF

Digital Publisher

Loma Linda University Libraries

Usage Rights

This title appears here courtesy of the author, who has granted Loma Linda University a limited, non-exclusive right to make this publication available to the public. The author retains all other copyrights.

Collection

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Collection Website

http://scholarsrepository.llu.edu/etd/

Repository

Loma Linda University. Del E. Webb Memorial Library. University Archives

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