Risk Assessment of Falling injury and its severity among Hospitalized Patients

20^th World Nursing Education Conference

May 22- 24, 2017 Osaka, Japan

Nien-Tzu Chang, Ying-Chao Lin, Ting-Kai Wang, Shu Feng Tsai

National Taiwan University and NTU Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Nurs Care

Abstract :

Falls are one of the leading causes of global disease burden. Injuries sustained during falls may result in a prolonged hospital stay or permanent patient disability. The study aim was to investigate the incidence and risk factors of falls in patients during hospitalization. This cross-sectional study analyzed data of inpatients who suffered a fall during their hospital stay in a medical center as the study cohort. Secondary data analysis was performed to investigate the injurious fall rates of inpatients and analyze the relationships of falls with internal disease, personal characteristics, and external environment characteristics. To establish a risk prediction model for falling injury in hospital, a logistic model was developed to analyze the adjusted odds risks for safety factors related to the hospital environment. The incidences of mild and moderate falls in hospitalized patients were 36.5% and 6.8%, respectively. The highest incidence occurred in patients on the internal medicine ward, accounting for 32.5% of cases, followed by the rehabilitation ward, representing 11.1% of cases. With regards to the time of fall occurrence, more men suffered falls during night shifts, while more women experienced falls during day shifts. A fall location of the patient�s bathroom was prone to cause significant injury (p <0.001). The risk of minor injuries in patients within hospital surroundings containing various hazard factors was 1.757 times higher than that in other surroundings. Analyses of patient safety and risk factors assist in the development of specific solutions in clinical practice for the prevention of fall injuries in hospitalized patients.

Biography :

Nien-Tzu Chang* is an Assistant Professor at the College of Medicine, School of Nursing, at the National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan. Dr. Chang is recognized for her research programs in National Taiwan University Hospital and well published in data mining analysis, with government program funding. She is a correspondence and an educator with research track records and sponsored undergraduate students funded by the National Taiwan University.