Assessing falls risk in older adult mental health patients: A Western Australian review

Falls are a common and costly complication of hospitalization, particularly in older adult populations. This paper presents the results of a review of 139 falls at two older adult mental health services in Western Australia, Australia, over a 12-month period. Data were collected from the hospital in...

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Main Authors: Heslop, Karen, Wynaden, Dianne, Bramanis, K., Connolly, C., Gee, T., Grifiths, R., Al Omari, Omar
Format: Journal Article
Published: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Asia 2012
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/39926
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author Heslop, Karen
Wynaden, Dianne
Bramanis, K.
Connolly, C.
Gee, T.
Grifiths, R.
Al Omari, Omar
author_facet Heslop, Karen
Wynaden, Dianne
Bramanis, K.
Connolly, C.
Gee, T.
Grifiths, R.
Al Omari, Omar
author_sort Heslop, Karen
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Falls are a common and costly complication of hospitalization, particularly in older adult populations. This paper presents the results of a review of 139 falls at two older adult mental health services in Western Australia, Australia, over a 12-month period. Data were collected from the hospital incident report management system and from case file reviews of patients who sustained a fall during hospitalization. The results demonstrated that the use of different risk assessment and falls management tools led to variations in practice, policies, and management strategies. The review identified mental health-specific falls risk factors that place older people with a mental illness at risk when admitted to the acute mental health setting. With the expansion of community mental healthcare, many older people with a mental illness are now cared for in a variety of health-care settings. In assessing falls risk and implementing falls-prevention strategies, it is important for clinicians to recognize this group as an ambulant population with a fluctuating course of illness. They have related risks that require specialized falls assessment and management.
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institution Curtin University Malaysia
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publishDate 2012
publisher Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Asia
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-399262017-09-13T15:55:04Z Assessing falls risk in older adult mental health patients: A Western Australian review Heslop, Karen Wynaden, Dianne Bramanis, K. Connolly, C. Gee, T. Grifiths, R. Al Omari, Omar mental health-specific factor fall risk assessment older adult management Falls are a common and costly complication of hospitalization, particularly in older adult populations. This paper presents the results of a review of 139 falls at two older adult mental health services in Western Australia, Australia, over a 12-month period. Data were collected from the hospital incident report management system and from case file reviews of patients who sustained a fall during hospitalization. The results demonstrated that the use of different risk assessment and falls management tools led to variations in practice, policies, and management strategies. The review identified mental health-specific falls risk factors that place older people with a mental illness at risk when admitted to the acute mental health setting. With the expansion of community mental healthcare, many older people with a mental illness are now cared for in a variety of health-care settings. In assessing falls risk and implementing falls-prevention strategies, it is important for clinicians to recognize this group as an ambulant population with a fluctuating course of illness. They have related risks that require specialized falls assessment and management. 2012 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/39926 10.1111/j.1447-0349.2012.00825.x Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Asia unknown
spellingShingle mental health-specific factor
fall
risk assessment
older adult
management
Heslop, Karen
Wynaden, Dianne
Bramanis, K.
Connolly, C.
Gee, T.
Grifiths, R.
Al Omari, Omar
Assessing falls risk in older adult mental health patients: A Western Australian review
title Assessing falls risk in older adult mental health patients: A Western Australian review
title_full Assessing falls risk in older adult mental health patients: A Western Australian review
title_fullStr Assessing falls risk in older adult mental health patients: A Western Australian review
title_full_unstemmed Assessing falls risk in older adult mental health patients: A Western Australian review
title_short Assessing falls risk in older adult mental health patients: A Western Australian review
title_sort assessing falls risk in older adult mental health patients: a western australian review
topic mental health-specific factor
fall
risk assessment
older adult
management
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/39926