Role of method of implementing multi-factorial falls prevention in nursing homes for elderly persons. The EUNESE project
Katarzyna Szczerbinska¹, Marek Zak² and Anna Ziomkiewicz³
¹Institute of Public Health, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Krakow, ²Chair of Clinical Rehabilitation, University School of Physical Education, Krakow, ³Institute of Anthropology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Wroclaw, Poland

Background and aims: This study was conducted within the European Network for Safety among the Elderly (funded by the EC in European Public Health Programme 2003-2008). The main aim was to assess the effectiveness of two types of implementation of multi-factorial intervention to reduce the incidence of falls in three nursing homes (NHs): one based on the involvement of the entire nursing staff in assessing the risk of falls (in NH A and B) and the other with one well-qualified professional (physiotherapist) to conduct assessment (in NH C). Methods: The intervention included: registration of falls throughout the study period (18 months), training of staff in months 5-6, supervised implementation of falls prevention in months 7-12, and a follow-up in the last 6 months. The median values of falls incidence adjusted to 100 mobile residents per month were compared between NHs A, B and C in the three consecutive phases of the observation: pre-intervention, implementation and follow-up, by means of the non-parametrical ANOVA Kruskal-Wallis test. Results: A statistically significant drop in falls incidence medians was observed during the phases in NH A (5.05 vs 2.52 vs 0.50 respectively; H=8.84, p<0.05) and NH B (4.58 vs 0.38 vs 1.90 respectively; H=8.52, p<0.05). The change was not significant in NH C (3.26 vs 5.43 vs 1.08 respectively; H=3.94, ns). Conclusions: Broad NH staff involvement in performing risk of falls assessment is more efficient in reducing the frequency of falls than hiring a single professional (specialized in falls prevention). (Aging Clin Exp Res 2010; 22: 261-269) ©2010, Editrice Kurtis

[« Torna indietro] [Full text non abbonati] [Full text abbonati] [Acquista PDF]