Fall In Nursing Home Essay

There are many various reasons as to why one would be in a Nursing home and because of all the reasons it can lead to causing falls. Many of these falls can lead to injury and even death; there are different measures used and put in place to try to prevent this. Some of the reasons that these falls occur are due to muscle weakness, walking and gait problems, environmental hazards, such as poor lighting or wet floors, medications, and transferring with improper equipment and foot wear (CDC, 2015). According to the CDC in a 100 bed facility, there are reports from 100 to 200 falls per year and still more that go unreported. Injuries that are caused by falls account for approximately 36 percent of possibly preventable visits to the emergency room from nursing home residents (Paul & Perkins, 2015). Injuries that can occur are head injury, fractures, subdural hematoma, …show more content…
Monitoring the restraint during use and addressing issues during use, are necessary. There must be a specified legitimate medical reason for using a physical restraint, which is a concern for the physical safety and physical or psychological needs expressed by a resident and must have physician order, family consent and must “to enhance the physical safety of the resident" (MDH, n.d.). Other measures that can be used prior to using restraints, or what may prevent the need to use restraints are personal strengthening and rehabilitation program, positioning and personal assistance devices, regular attention to toileting and other physical needs by staff, positioning devices, close observation by staff and alarms (MDH, n.d.).
The nursing home is responsible to be able to assess these falls and assure that reasons why these falls occurred are addressed to try to prevent any further falls, it is about keeping the residents are safe as possible while assuring their