Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Thursday Thirteen Edition #10

13 suggestions for a fall risk assessment

1. History of falling
2. Cognition, mental status
3. Impulsivity
4. Vision (eye site elevated to target rather than looking at feet)
5. Ambulation ability
6. Continence
7. Use of high-risk medications
8. Use of assistive devices for transfer or ambulation
9. Attached equipment (oxygen tubing, catheters, intravenous lines)
10. Familiarity with the environment, lighting
11. Sleep patterns
12. balance, gait, footwear evaluation, appropriate shoes
13. Hydration status

This is only 13 suggestions and a thorough fall risk assessment should include additional factors that fits the make up of the facility.

To read more Thursday Thirteen

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is a good list. We just moved my mil into a nearby assisted living facility, and I am so glad the physical therapist there evaluated her and assigned her a walker. At first she insisted she didn't need it, but she is so glad for it now and feels so much more stable.

Darla said...

Too bad the nursing home where my husband's grandmother was hadn't done that--she was post-surgery and fell out of bed, breaking her hip.

bernieg1 said...

Geriatric Nursing must be difficult. The elderly should be dignified with respect - instead so many are thrown in them like rag dolls that are used up. I know some are sick and need the care because families are not able to care for them, understandable in those cases. But I have seen so many elderly with sound minds put into homes because the family did not want to be "burndened." And many are rarely visited. What a sad state of affairs in the U.S.

Europe still respects and cares for their aged, even when they are ailing and will bring in home nurses once or twice a day.

Good TT.

My TT this is week is about the 13 Myths of Sarah Palin

genderist said...

It's so important to be on top of fall risk... safety is #1.