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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| Pilot cluster randomised controlled trial of flooring to reduce injuries from falls in wards for older people | | Author(s) | Amy Kim Drahota, Derek Ward, Julie E Udell |
| Journal title | Age and Ageing, vol 42, no 5, September 2013 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press, September 2013 |
| Pages | pp 633-640 |
| Source | www.ageing.oxfordjournals.org |
| Keywords | Hospital services ; In-patients ; Geriatric units ; Falls ; Accident prevention ; Floors. |
| Annotation | Falls disproportionately affect older people who are at increased risk of falls and injury. This pilot study investigated the effectiveness of shock-absorbing flooring for fall-related injuries in wards for frail older people. A non-blinded cluster randomised trial was conducted in eight hospitals in England between April 2010 and August 2011. Each site allocated one bay as the `study area', which was randomised via computer to intervention (8.3-mm thick Tarkett Omnisports EXCEL) or control (2-mm standard in situ flooring). Sites had an intervention period of one year. Anybody admitted to the study area was eligible. The primary outcome was the fall-related injury rate. Secondary outcomes were injury severity, fall rate and adverse events. During the intervention period 226 participants were recruited to each group (219 and 223 were analysed in the intervention and control group respectively). Of 35 falls (31 fallers) in the intervention group, 22.9% were injurious, compared with 42.4% of 33 falls (22 fallers) in the control group. There were no moderate or major injuries in the intervention group and six in the control group. Staff at intervention sites raised concerns about pushing equipment, documenting one pulled back. The study concludes that future research should assess shock-absorbing flooring with better `push/pull' properties and explore increased faller risk. It is estimated that a future trial would need 33,480 to 52,840 person bed-days per arm. (JL). |
| Accession Number | CPA-130906211 A |
| Classmark | LD: LF7: LDB: OLF: OQ: YEF |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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