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Falls in long-term care facilities (LTCF) are a significant health issue, occurring at three times the rate of community settings, leading to serious physical and psychological consequences for residents. Various strategies exist for fall prevention, but more research is needed to identify the most effective combinations, emphasizing the importance of staff training and a culture of safety. Transparent communication about quality data regarding LTCFs is crucial for patients and their families, with a focus on safety and falls prevention in care.

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Salim Samanju Njuguna
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3 views

Doc6

Falls in long-term care facilities (LTCF) are a significant health issue, occurring at three times the rate of community settings, leading to serious physical and psychological consequences for residents. Various strategies exist for fall prevention, but more research is needed to identify the most effective combinations, emphasizing the importance of staff training and a culture of safety. Transparent communication about quality data regarding LTCFs is crucial for patients and their families, with a focus on safety and falls prevention in care.

Uploaded by

Salim Samanju Njuguna
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Once patients make a choice and are in a LTCF, falls

are a major health problem linked to significant morbidity and


mortality. They present an issue throughout all health care
settings, but particularly in LTCF where falls are three times
the rates of community settings (Albasha et al., 2023). Half of
LTCF residents fall more than once a year and these falls
cause both physical and psychological damage with
consequences including hip fracture, depression, fear of
falling, and decreased quality of life along with economic
burdens of increased length of stay (Albasha et al, 2023). Falls
even claim the second most common cause of death globally
according to the World Health Organization (WHO). A study of
the different implementation strategies to support safety and
falls prevention interventions in LTCF revealed a variety of
measures are used to assist staff in preventing falls, but more
research needs to be done to determine the best combination
as there is still no clear pattern of which interventions are
most effective (Albasha et al., 2023). Training and educating
staff one time or ongoingly regarding fall risk assessment, risk
factor modification, post-fall management, medication review,
identifying champions to support implementation, supporting
clinicians with electronic reminders for falls prevention,
engaging consumers and involving family in education, and
compensating staff for participating in training outside of work
are all strategies used either on their own or in combination
(Albasha et al., 2023). A culture of safety must be an
organizational focus, and the perfect combination of
interventions still evades LTCFs.
More attention should be paid to providing transparent
communication to patients and their families about quality
data in their choices of LTCFs, and safety and falls prevention
must be a focus in the care of these patients.
References
Albasha, N., Ahern, L., O’Mahony, L., McCullogh, R., Cornally,
N., McHugh, S. & Timmons, S. (2023). Implementation
strategies to support fall prevention interventions in long-term
care facilities for older persons: a systemic review. BMC
Geriatrics. 23(1), 47. https://usmai-
umgc.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01USMAI_UMGC/
17toqj2/
cdi_doaj_primary_oai_doaj_org_article_5a1465202dee4d0f8d1
3c1b0793dc322
Tyler, D.A., Gadbois, E.A., McCugh, J.P., Shield, R.R., Winblad,
U. & Mor, V. (2017). Patients are not given quality-of-care data
about skilled nursing facilities when discharged from
hospitals. Health Affairs. 36(8), 1385-1391. https://usmai-
umgc.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01USMAI_UMGC/
17toqj2/cdi_swepub_primary_oai_DiVA_org_uu_332672

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