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Introduction
Falls create a number of problems for people of different ages. According to the investigations of the World Health Organization (2018), falls remain the second leading cause of unintentional injury deaths around the whole world, taking about 650,000 lives annually. About 3 million people become the patients of emergency departments at local hospitals because of fall injuries (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2017). Children cannot control their movements but get serious complications. The elderly may easily fall and never walk, suffering from serious pain. Compared to children who are usually under the control of their parents or caregivers, elder patients should be responsible for their actions and decisions. Therefore, they may need additional help in the form of specially developed fall prevention programs. In this project, an intervention program that includes the control of patients’ vision, the promotion of nurse-patient cooperation, and special group meetings will be developed for the residents of the St. Mark Health Care Center in Florida for one year.
Program Description and Goals
There are many ways to help the elderly overcome fall complications and prevent the situations that may lead to falls. In this program that is called “Safe Vision for Cooperation and Communication,” participants will be provided with an opportunity to explore various aspects of falls in their lives and consider the impact of vision and cooperation with other stakeholders. The setting where this program will be introduced is the St. Mark Health Care Center located in Florida. It is the place where old veterans and civilians can ask for health care and take special rehabilitation courses to improve the quality of life and deal with urgent mental health and physical problems. It is not only a nursing home for the elderly; it is a center where dementia and depression care, as well as assisted and independent living, is promoted.
The main goals of this intervention program are:
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To identify the main needs of the elderly;
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To learn the reasons for falls and the conditions that promote dangerous situations;
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To prevent falls and support adult patients;
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To promote cooperation, collective meetings, and care practices;
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To provide patients with a safe future.
Interventions
People may fall because of different reasons. Hita-Contreras, Martínez-Amat, Cruz-Díaz, and Pérez-López (2015) defined that, in the majority of cases, fear of falling leads to an increased risk of falling or restrictions of certain activities. Therefore, primary and secondary interventions of the program “Safe Vision for Cooperation and Communication” should be based not only on the necessity to reduce the number of falls and fall-related injuries but also on the obligation to inform patients and get rid of doubts and fears.
Primary Interventions
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Vision control (falls may be caused because adults have vision problems, and healthcare professions should check this condition and detect possible changes);
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Communication with nurses (the elderly should know that they can address a nurse any time they need, and “Ready to talk” labels on nurses can be a good solution);
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Group meetings (adult patients should not only be invited to regular checkups and examinations but for ordinary talks with a number of topics for discussion);
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Mutual activities (sometimes, adults do not have a person to spend some time with, and this program supports the promotion of special physical activities, reading evenings, and even Sunday dinners);
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Cognitive training (in addition to entertainment, the elderly should learn what causes falls and how to avoid them, and short lectures can help to improve their knowledge).
Secondary Interventions
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Free glasses to improve vision are offered;
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Special call bells to invite for communication are given;
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Themes for evenings are based on patients’ surveys and assessments;
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Opinions and feedback are gathered;
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Individual and group statistics are introduced weekly.
The peculiar feature of this intervention program is not to offer concrete physical or emotional recommendations. As a rule, modern hospitals and nursing homes are already equipped with such material. Physical exercises, vitamin D nutrition, and supplementary medication are frequently offered to patients (Pfortmueller, Lindner, & Exadaktylos, 2014). This time falls have to be prevented by offering additional activities, promoting cooperation between the staff and patients, and the encouragement of talks between people of the same age. The task is to demonstrate how falls can be prevented, assessed, and understood by the elderly in case they are involved in ordinary activities.
Program Institution
Nurses can be challenged by the necessity to combine their professional duties with daily routines to promote the emotional well-being of patients and their families. The implementation of this program has to be organized in several steps. First, the administration team should be created to identify the number of patients and the composition of their families. Second, nurses have to be instructed by a specially prepared worker. This training includes the necessity to use appropriate phrases, recognize needs before they are spoken aloud, and analyze situations to offer the best fast decisions. Third, this program promotes regular meetings and communication. Therefore, it is necessary to enlarge knowledge, offer online connections 24/7, and create diaries so that nurses and patients may compare their achievements individually.
Materials and Resources
The choice of main resources is an important step in this program. The program includes buying notebooks and pens for the elderly and nurses, several tablets for nurses, and books, journals, or magazines for patients. The choice of the material for thematic evenings and meetings may depend on the situation. Still, this point has to be discussed with administrators. Finally, special tools for presentations can be rented several times.
Program Costs
Benefits and Outcomes
People may fall anytime and change the quality of their lives forever. When an old person suffers from a fall, the situation differs because it may take a life or require much time and certain efforts to deal with complications. This program is a chance to look at falls from a new perspective. A new vision is not only an improved vision of the patients. It is a new opportunity to accept falls and prevent them from using ordinary ideas, following routine activities, and use communication and the exchange of information as the main tools to reduce the number of falls. It is expected that the elderly start is talking about what bothers them, discussing their fears and doubts, and sharing their expectations and hopes. Nurses and family caregivers, in their turn, can learn the needs of this group of people who are at risk of having fall-related injuries.
Conclusion
To conclude, the promotion of this program with a list of primary and secondary interventions can be a priceless contribution to the quality of life of the elderly population of the United States. Some people maybe not ready to admit their weaknesses and stresses connected with falls. This project aims at revealing fears and concerns and showing how communication and cooperation can change the case. Fall prevention is possible through a variety of approaches, and the key ingredient of this project is the use of ordinary things to solve complex issues.
References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2017). Important facts about falls.Web.
Hita-Contreras, F., Martínez-Amat, A., Cruz-Díaz, D., & Pérez-López, F. R. (2015). Osteosarcopenic obesity and fall prevention strategies. Maturitas, 80(2), 126-132.
Pfortmueller, C. A., Lindner, G., & Exadaktylos, A. K. (2014). Reducing fall risk in the elderly: Risk factors and fall prevention, a systematic review. Minerva Medica, 105(4), 275-281.
World Health Organization. (2018). Falls. Web.
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