Unfortunately, elders are more subject to health issues in comparison with younger patients. That is why it is of crucial significance to provide the elder with additional care. A safe environment is an essential phenomenon because, without it, elderly adults would witness a potential risk of falling. Thus, a fall prevention program is obligatory for all healthcare facilities, and Senior Home Care of South Florida is not an exception. The fall prevention program called “Safe Steps for Older Adults” is designed to provide aged patients with an opportunity to move freely and safely.
Statistical Data
A significant part of aged patients is at risk of falling. As Albert, Raviotta, Lin, Edelstein, and Smith (2016, p. 638) claim, there were 2,301 falls among 100,000 individuals aged 50 to 54 in 2011. This risk will be higher for older patients, which makes it impossible to ignore the given state of affairs. Thus, the fall prevention program should be utilized to minimize the number of falls and increase the quality of health care delivery.
Goals of the Program
According to the information above, the primary purpose of “Safe Steps for Older Adults” is to prevent falls in older adults. It will contribute to improving patients’ health and well-being, which, in its turn, will create a better image of the medical facility among other patients. The accompanying crucial goal is to teach both patients and staff members how to identify hazards and minimize their possible impact. These two goals are enough to mobilize and involve all existing resources in implementing the fall prevention program under consideration.
Interventions Explained
“Safe Steps for Older Adults” is a complex strategy consisting of a few crucial components, and interventions to be used are among them. The program includes five interventions that will help reduce the number of falls. Tricco et al. (2017) state that general physical exercises are the first implementation to be used. When older adults do physical training, they strengthen their muscles and joints, which would help them avoid falling. Additionally, it is proved that particular exercises especially those improving balance, will contribute to lower fall rates (Tricco et al., 2017). The impact of these exercises will be more significant if patients keep to a diet that is full of nutrients and minerals (Tricco et al., 2017). These three implementations represent only a superficial approach; more complex guidelines are necessary to improve the situation.
Since falls can be a result of both internal (health conditions) and external (environment) terms, the next implementation refers to combining exercises and environmental assessment (Tricco et al., 2017). It is necessary to minimize the influence of all the possible environmental factors that could result in a patient’s fall. Finally, a multi-component intervention consisting of quality improvement strategies as well as calcium and vitamin D supplementation is irreplaceable when it comes to reducing patients’ fall rates. Thus, it is possible to achieve the necessary results only by using multi-component approaches covering numerous spheres of patients’ life.
Training List
“Safe Steps for Older Adults” also includes various kinds of training. At this point, it should become clear that both patients themselves and staff members are responsible for their safety. On the one hand, it is necessary to teach patients what to do to avoid a risk of falling or to minimize it significantly. Further training should refer to guidelines of what to do if they have fallen. Besides, particular training courses may appear if there are physically disabled patients. On the other hand, the staff members bear a great responsibility when it comes to the fall prevention program. As the best strategy is to prevent falling at all, rather than to manage its consequences, the staff members should learn how to help patients avoid falling. Thus, this simple training list can be useful for reducing fall rates in the facility.
Items Needed
The given fall prevention program would be incomplete without particular material and technical resources. They refer to environmental safety, and they can be of both personal and collective use. Nonskid socks are one of the primary means of personal protection. Even though they seem to be senseless, these items alone can contribute to lower fall rates. Besides, it is necessary to equip Senior Home Care of South Florida with corresponding signs and alarms. Even a single slippery floor sign will be enough to warn patients of a possible danger. Despite Hoke and Guarracine (2016) stating that the fall precautions fail to contribute to the lower fall rates, it is not reasonable to ignore these items. They should be present because they try to minimize another factor leading to a higher number of patient falls.
Estimated Cost of the Program
Creating and implementing “Safe Steps for Older Adults” will cost at least $15,000.00. The sum includes organizing training, performing interventions, and purchasing the needed items. Even though the Administration can believe it is too expensive, it is really not. Looking ahead, one can say this money is a profitable investment in the future of the facility. As is clear, the facility spends a lot of money on treating the severe consequences of patient falls and corresponding injuries. Since the patients only grow older, this sum seems to be continually increasing. Thus, implementing the fall prevention program at present will help save a lot of money and patients’ health in the future.
Projected Outcomes
“Safe Steps for Older Adults” is expected to result in a few positive outcomes. Firstly, the number of patient falls will decrease significantly, which is the main thing. Even though it is impossible to eliminate this dangerous phenomenon, the fall prevention program will make the state of affairs much better than it is now. Secondly, the program will contribute to essential economic benefits in the nearest future. According to Albert et al. (2016, p. 638), can result in “savings of $840 per person”; actual benefits depend on the number of patients and their ages. Thus, these possible outcomes make it quite reasonable to implement the fall prevention program.
To conclude, elderly adults, are in danger of falling because of a few reasons. To prevent possible negative consequences, one should design and implement a fall prevention program. “Safe Steps for Older Adults” is one of them addressing the issues of reducing patient fall rates. The given program consists of corresponding interventions, training courses, and needed items. The program can seem to be too expensive, but its projected outcomes outweigh all the possible expenditures. Thus, “Safe Steps for Older Adults” is an obligatory phenomenon because it makes it possible to improve both patients’ health economic condition of the facility.
References
- Albert, S. M., Raviotta, J., Lin, C. J., Edelstein, O., & Smith, K. J. (2016). Cost-effectiveness of a statewide falls prevention program in Pennsylvania: Healthy steps for older adults. The American Journal of Managed Care, 22(10), 638-644.
- Hoke, L. M., & Guarracino, D. (2016). Beyond socks, signs, and alarms: A reflective accountability model for fall prevention. American Journal of Nursing, 116(1), 42-47.
- Tricco, A. C., Thomas, S. M., Veronoki, A. A., Hamid, J. S., Cogo, E., Strifler, L., … Straus, S. E. (2017). Comparisons of interventions for prevention falls in older adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA, 318(17), 1687-1699.