This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Study finds 21% of newly admitted nursing home residents sustain a fall during stay
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
One in five short-stay nursing home patients sustains a fall after their admission, according to researchers from the University of Southern California and Brown University.
The study, published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, also found that certified nursing assistant (CNA) staff was associated with a decreased risk of falls, according to a University of Southern California news release.
A fall can delay or permanently prevent the patient from returning to the community, and identifying risk of falling is essential for implementing fall prevention strategies and facilitating successful discharge back to the community,” lead author Natalie E. Leland, PhD, stated in the release.
Leland and co-authors performed an observational cross-sectional study from Jan. 1, 2006 to Dec. 31, 2006, and investigated 230,730 patients admitted to U.S. nursing homes without prior nursing home stays. A follow-up minimum data set assessment was completed for these patients 30 days or more after admission.
According to the study abstract, Leland and colleagues examined the relationship between nursing home characteristics, such as staffing, profit and chain status, hospital-based facility status and number of beds, and falls as noted on the minimum data set assessment.
The results of the study noted that 21% (47,750) of the cohort examined had at least one nursing home fall at the time of the minimum data set assessment. The study also found those nursing homes with higher CNA staffing demonstrated lower rates of falls.
Reference:
Leland NE, Gozalo P, Teno J, Mor V. Falls in newly admitted nursing home residents: A national study. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2012. doi: 10.1111/j.1532-5415.2012.03931.