Knowledge Assignment: Fall Prevention
Knowledge Assignment: Fall Prevention
Mrs. L is an 89-year-old widow who lives independently in her home. Although Mrs. L does not currently take any medications, she has gone through other medical conditions that put her at risk of fall. The medical conditions that put her at risk for fall are Bilateral hip replacements, Detached retina × 2 (right eye), Osteoarthritis, Depression, Orthostatic hypotension, Falls at home × 1, Urinary frequency, and Insomnia (sleeps about 3 hours per night). Since Mrs. L was admitted to the hospital, it is the nurses’ responsibility to do a comprehensive assessment of the patient and implement the appropriate care plan. According to The Hendrich II Fall Risk Model, the patient scores 11, which means a high risk for falls (Hendrich, 2016). In The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Mrs. L scored 17 with a range of 0-21 points, “0” indicating no difficulty and “21” indicating severe difficulty in all areas (Buysse et al., 1989), which put her at a high risk of losing balance and falling. Another fall indicator was her Mini-Cog screening for cognitive impairment. Mrs. L scored 2 out of 5, which means she is experiencing dementia, which is also an important contributor to falls (Borson, n.d.). Knowledge Assignment: Fall Prevention
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To implement safety goals for Mrs. L in the Environmental and equipment category, we need to make sure that her room is clean and all the wires are tacked away from her walkway. Also, emphasizing using a call light during the hospital stay is important. Regarding gait and mobility, we should encourage the patient to use a walker and wear her non-skidding socks all time. Moreover, when the patient is prescribed new medications, especially for geriatric dementia patients, we need to emphasize using a daily pill box that organizes the medications for each day to avoid forgetting or overdosing. We need to help patients in practicing relaxation techniques such as applied relaxation, progressive muscle relaxation, cue controlled relaxation; mindful breathing; biofeedback) to reduce their depression and anxiety. Knowledge Assignment: Fall Prevention
References
Borson, S. (n.d.) Mini-Cog screening for cognitive impairment in older adults. Retrieved from https://mini-cog.com/
Buysse, D. J., Reynolds, C. F., Monk, T. H., Berman, S. R., & Kupfer, D. J. (1989). The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Retrieved from http://www.sleep.pitt.edu/research/ewExternalFiles/PSQI%20Instrument.pdf
Hendrich, A. (2016). Fall risk assessment for older adults: The Hendrich II Fall Risk model. Try This, 8. Retrieved from https://consultgeri.org/try-this/general-assessment/issue-8.pdf Knowledge Assignment: Fall Prevention
