Characteristics of Falls and Falling Patients in an Acute Hospital

Mizuki Sato; Tomoko Takahashi; Noritaka Sakata; Mariko Takahashi; Hiroaki Uozumi; Tomoya Omae

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Characteristics of Falls and Falling Patients in an Acute Hospital

VernacularTitle:当院における転倒・転落患者の現状
Author: Mizuki SATO ¹ ; Tomoko TAKAHASHI ¹ ; Noritaka SAKATA ¹ ; Mariko TAKAHASHI ² ; Hiroaki UOZUMI ³ ; Tomoya OMAE ⁴
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1. Depts. of Rehabilitation, Omagari Kosei Medical Center
2. Depts. of Medical Safety Promotion, JA Omagari Kosei Medical Center
3. Depts. of Orthopedic Surgery, JA Omagari Kosei Medical Center
4. Depts. of Neurological Surgery, JA Omagari Kosei Medical Center
From:Journal of the Japanese Association of Rural Medicine 2019;68(4):510-516
CountryJapan
Language:Japanese
Abstract: JA Omagari Kosei Medical Center is an acute hospital located in Daisen City, Akita Prefecture, and we have two comprehensive community-based care wards. Falls and fall incidents are always ranked high in acute hospitals. Injuries caused by falls such as fracture, may lead to decline in activities of daily living / quality of life in patients and / or their families, which may then prolong the hospitalization period. Therefore, prevention of falls and falling is beneficial. Previous studies have reported that the activities of the ‘falls and falling’ teams contribute to reducing the fall rate. However, few studies have been conducted in acute hospital settings. Therefore, in this study we summarized the characteristics and current status of hospitalized patients in terms of falls and falling incidents in our hospital from medical records and incident accident reports. 　　Among 230 patients, 291 falls and falling incidents were reported in 1 year; falls and falling accounted for 32.9％ of all incidents. In addition, the fall rate was 2.1 cases / 1,000 patients / day, average age was 77 years, and there was a higher tendency in men. Furthermore, falls and falling occurred on a median 13 days from hospitalization; in 124 cases (42.6％) within 10 days after hospitalization and in 60 cases (20.6％) from 10 days to 20 days. A similar tendency was seen in patients who were moved to the comprehensive community-based care ward. Therefore, we considered that the patient would require continuous attention after moving to that ward. Ultimately, falls and falling occurred in the late-night period (from midnight to 8 a.m.), and many were at the bedside (58.4％), and the purpose of movement was bowel motion (54.3％).