Abstract

SAMPER LAMENCA, Blanca et al. Analysis of the falls in a residence of elderly and the environmental influence. Gerokomos [online]. 2016, vol.27, n.1, pp.2-7. ISSN 1134-928X.

Background: An elderly fall is an important geriatric syndrome with a multifactorial etiology. The average in institutions is three times higher than in the community. Furthermore, 22% of them are caused by extrinsic risk factors, most of them avoidable. Therefore, we must work in environmental factors adjustment. Objective: Analyze the falls in an elderly care home during 5 years, and describe all the environmental factors involved. Furthermore, this study was designed to explore the association between the falls and the risk of falls measured with Tinetti scale. Methods: a retrospective study was carried out, with 160 incidents documented in the care home falls reports. Results: 73.1% of the falls happened to females, with an age average of 85.73 years considering the whole sample. 73.1% of the falls coexisted with a high risk in Tinetti scale. It's remarkable that 48.1% of the falls happened during the morning, the residents room as the most usual place (39.4%), and the floor wasn't non-slide in 79.4% of the incidents. Significant differences between categories of different variables were obtained. Conclusions: A larger number of drops are observed when a high risk is notified in Tinetti scale and it coexists with some environmental factors. Therefore, it would be desirable to influence the reduction of environmental risk, as they are modifiable factors.

Keywords : elderly; fall; enviromental factors; institutions.

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