Exploring hospital inpatients’ awareness of their falls risk : a qualitative exploratory study

- Dabkowski, Elissa, Cooper, Simon, Duncan, Jhodie, Missen, Karen

Title
Exploring hospital inpatients’ awareness of their falls risk : a qualitative exploratory study
Creator
Dabkowski, Elissa; Cooper, Simon; Duncan, Jhodie; Missen, Karen
Date
2023
Type
Text; Journal article
Identifier
http://researchonline.federation.edu.au/vital/access/HandleResolver/1959.17/192852
Identifier
vital:18068
Identifier
https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20010454
Identifier
ISSN:1661-7827 (ISSN)
Abstract
Patient falls in hospital may lead to physical, psychological, social and financial impacts. Understanding patients’ perceptions of their fall risk will help to direct fall prevention strategies and understand patient behaviours. The aim of this study was to explore the perceptions and experiences that influence a patient’s understanding of their fall risk in regional Australian hospitals. Semi-structured, individual interviews were conducted in wards across three Australian hospitals. Participants were aged 40 years and over, able to communicate in English and were mobile prior to hospital admission. Participants were excluded from the study if they returned a Standardised Mini-Mental State Examination (SMMSE) score of less than 18 when assessed by the researcher. A total of 18 participants with an average age of 69.8 years (SD ± 12.7, range 41 to 84 years) from three regional Victorian hospitals were interviewed for this study. Data were analysed using a reflexive thematic analysis identifying three major themes; (1) Environment (extrinsic) (2) Individual (intrinsic), and (3) Outcomes, as well as eight minor themes. Participants recognised the hazardous nature of a hospital and their personal responsibilities in staying safe. Falls education needs to be consistently delivered, with the focus on empowering the patient to help them adjust to changes in their clinical condition, whether temporary or permanent. © 2022 by the authors.
Publisher
MDPI
Relation
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health Vol. 20, no. 1 (2023), p.
Rights
All metadata describing materials held in, or linked to, the repository is freely available under a CC0 licence
Rights
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Rights
Copyright © 2022 by the authors
Rights
Open Access
Subject
MD Multidisciplinary; Adult; Fall prevention; Falls; Patient; Perception; Regional; Rural
Full Text
Reviewed
Funder
The first author is supported by a co-funded PhD scholarship between Latrobe Regional Hospital and Federation University Australia and an Australian Government Research Training Program (RTP) Fee-Offset Scholarship.
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