Skip Navigation



Age and Ageing Advance Access published online on April 2, 2008
Age and Ageing, doi:10.1093/ageing/afn053
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Supplementary Data
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
37/3/306    most recent
afn053v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Bouwen, A.
Right arrow Articles by Buntinx, F.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Bouwen, A.
Right arrow Articles by Buntinx, F.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Copyright © The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Geriatrics Society.

Rate of accidental falls in institutionalised older people with and without cognitive impairment halved as a result of a staff-oriented intervention

Anne Bouwen1, Jan De Lepeleire1 and Frank Buntinx2

1 Department of Katholieke Universiteit, Leuven, Belgium
2 Department of Katholieke Universiteit, Leuven and University of Maastricht, The Netherlands

Address correspondence to: Anne Bouwen. Tel: +32 16 337468. Fax: +32 16 337480. Email: anne.bouwen{at}med.kuleuven.be

Objective: to evaluate the impact of a staff-oriented intervention on the number of accidental falls in residents with and without cognitive impairment.

Design: clustered randomised controlled trial.

Methods: ten nursing wards from 7 nursing homes were randomised in a control (5 wards) and intervention (5 wards) group. The nurses from the intervention group received multi-faceted training about the occurrence of accidental falls, risk factors for falls and possible environmental modifications. For each fall they were asked to record the relevant risk factors, to keep a fall diary and to evaluate fall causes and possible preventive actions. For all residents, cognition and mobility were evaluated using a Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and a Timed Up and Go Test (TUGT). Fall rates were recorded in an identical way for 6 months before and after the start of the intervention.

Main outcome measures: primary outcome measure was the number of participants with at least one accidental fall requiring an intervention by a physician or a nurse during each period of recording. Secondary outcome was the number of falls for each participant during each period of recording.

Results: the relative risk of falling at least once in people of the intervention versus the control group adjusted for the pre-intervention results was 0.46 (95% CI: 0.26-0.79). There was no difference between residents with and without cognitive impairment or impaired mobility. In those falling at least once, the difference between the average number of falls in the two intervention arms was not significant (P = 0.10).

Conclusion: a simple staff-oriented intervention had a substantial effect on the frequency of accidental falls.

Keywords: accidental falls, elderly, dementia, staff-oriented intervention

Received 28 May 2007; accepted in revised form 31 October 2007.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.