Hazards Related to Falls among Elderly Persons in a Facility

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify hazards to falls among elderly persons in a facility. 26 institutionalized elderly persons were examined through interview, demonstration, and monitoring of behaviors, and a difference between the length of leg and their height of wheelchairs and strengths of illuminance in the facility were measured. As a result, 115 hazards, fourteen sorts of hazards, five items of hazards were identified. Facility structures and conditions, choosing and fixing of aids for locomotion, and staff education were belonged to physical environmental factors, behaviors related to fall occurrence to functional factors, and thought related to fall occurrence to personal / behavioral factors. In physical environmental factor, hazards that elderly persons experienced could be invisible without verbal expression. Thirty% of wheelchair users underwent falls from their wheelchairs, and between the difference of the length of leg and height of wheelchair and falls showed a correlation of 0.518, so the difference could be direct cause of falls. In functional factors, 73.8% showed twenty-score of Mini-Mental State Examination, and they could not handle wheelchair safely. In personal / behavioral factors, thought of "Enryo" which is a Japanese traditional behavior for others to show pleased should be further explored to prevent falls.