A Literature Review on the Effect and How to Combine the Fall Preventive Interventions with the Patients’ Risk of Falling

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the relationship of the patients' fall-risk and the interventions to prevent falls, the connection of the fall risk factors and the fall preventive cares, with the aim of evaluating those effects of fall prevention.

Methods: A literatures review was performed. We searched PubMed, CINAHL, Ichushi-Web from 2002-2011 to obtain the studies which implemented the multifaceted fall preventive interventions to the hospital inpatients, and 28 articles were identified.

Result: There were four types of combinations of the patients' fall-risk and the interventions to prevent falls. A)Evaluating the risks of falling by risk score calculation, and carrying out the interventions according to the scores. B) In addition to evaluating the risks of falling, provides the interventions to the specific risk factors. C) Performing the interventions with the fall risk assessment which investi-gates the cause of falls. D) Implementing the interventions corresponding to the specific fall risk factors which have been identified previously. There was no big difference in the fall preventive effect due to the type of those combinations. In addition, there were 5 classifications as specific risk factors: 1) cogni-tive problems, 2) movement problems, 3) mixed risks of 1) and 2), 4) medication use, 5) others. The connections of the fall preventive interventions and the risk factors were diverse. Falls might be reduced by care of exercises to the risk factor of movement problem. Other effects were not conclusive.

Conclusion: Further research should be conducted to clear the best method to tie the patients' fall-risk and the fall preventive interventions including cost side. It is also need to clarify the effect of the fall prevention cares for the fall risk factors.