NR 103 Week 5 RUA: Falls in the Elderly

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Falls in the Elderly Chamberlain University College of Nursing NR103: Transition to the Nursing Professions Falls in the Elderly This paper is to discuss falls and the impact they have on ... the elderly. This paper will pull information from both personal experience and journal reports. “A fall is defined as an event in which a person unintentionally drops from an upright or other fixed, secure position to a lower or less erect position on the floor or the ground for reasons that are not related to a suddenly occurring medical condition (Schub & Heering, 2018).” Until the earth no longer has gravity falls will happen, regardless of the precautions we take. They happen at homes, hospitals, care centers, they have happened every where in the world. The elderly is at higher risk for falls and even more likely to need medical attention after a fall. About twenty percent of falls need medical attention and another ten percent cause serious injury (Schub & Heering, 2018). In September 2019 my grandmother was walking and tripped in her own home, falling to the ground. Her fall landed her in the twenty percent who need medical attention and the ten percent that cause serious injury. Her fall resulted in a, shattered elbow, a greenstick fracture of the scapula and a segmental fracture of the humorous. This fall alone has cost her three surgeries, a heart attack, a pulmonary embolism, a year of physical therapy and an amount of money she will not pay off in her lifetime. Falls in the elderly are a serious issue that needs to be addressed. However, where to begin addressing the problem is the question. Schub, T., & Heering, H. (2018, September 2) had great points on addressing this issue, but their solution is mainly in the clinical situation. Educating people is a very important step in the process, but its these types of things that need to be taught at a young age. Starting at a younger age will better set them up for the future but nothing is one hundred percent, and, in the end, we are all human. To rap things up, falls in the elderly is a serious issue that as a society we need to work on. Falls can seriously burden a family and a loved one. The percentage of serious injuries needs to be lower, and we do this by educating the young and the old. In the end humanities greatest weakness is that they are human. References Peter, R. M., Joseph, A., & John, K. (2019). The Cost of Falls among the Elderly in Kattankulathur Block, Tamil Nadu. https://eds-b-ebscohost- com.chamberlainuniversity.idm.oclc.org/eds/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=0fb195ed-19e2- 4b0e-a102-9d7f6aceb50b %40sessionmgr103&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmUmc2NvcGU9c2l0ZQ%3D %3D#AN=139734261&db=her. Schub, T., & Heering, H. (2018, September 2). Falls, Accidental: Resulting in Injury. https://eds- b-ebscohost-com.chamberlainuniversity.idm.oclc.org/eds/detail/detail? vid=0&sid=271893c4-8afd-47fd-991a-1518eff43968%40pdc-v- sessmgr01&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmUmc2NvcGU9c2l0ZQ%3D %3D#AN=T704076&db=nup. Yakota, M., Fujita, T., Nakahara, S., & Sakamoto, T. (2020). Clarifying differences in injury patterns between ground-level falls and falls from heights among the elderly in Japan. https://eds-b-ebscohost-com.chamberlainuniversity.idm.oclc.org/eds/detail/detail? vid=0&sid=e43de5c6-8223-43a0-8907-0cd73b62a8b9%40pdc-v- sessmgr04&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmUmc2NvcGU9c2l0ZQ%3D %3D#AN=S0033350619303907&db=edselp. [Show More]

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