Evaluation of the safety of hospitalized older adults as for the risk of falls

• Autor(a) principal: Sarges,Nathalia de Araújo
• Data de Publicação: 2017
• Outros Autores: Santos,Maria Izabel Penha de Oliveira, Chaves,Emanuele Cordeiro
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Revista Brasileira de Enfermagem (Online)
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0034-71672017000400860
• topic: Older Adults; Patient Safety; Accidents by Falls; Nursing Care; Geriatric Nursing

ABSTRACT Objective: To evaluate the safety of hospitalized older adults as for the risk of falls according to the parameters of the Morse Fall Scale. Method: Epidemiological, cross-sectional, prospective and descriptive study with n=75. Results: Average age of 71.3 years (SD±8.2); 58.7% male; 44% with low educational level; 38.7% hospitalized for cardiovascular diseases; average hospitalization of 10 days (SD±9.38); 78.7% with comorbidities; 61.3% with the calf circumference ≥ 31 cm; 62.7% were former smokers for more than 10 years; 65% did not drink alcohol; 100% did not have identification bracelet; 22.7% had similar names in the infirmary; 48% took up to five medicines; and 93.3% received some invasive procedure, especially the vessel puncture (65.3%). There was a high risk of falls in 52% of older adults. Conclusion: The results pointed to imminent risk of breach of patient safety, emphasizing the need for implementation of protocols and predictive scales such as the Morse scale.