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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| Notation of previous falls in admission record of hospitalized elderly | | Author(s) | H K Edelberg, K Lyman, J Y Wei |
| Journal title | Aging: Clinical and Experimental Research, vol 10, no 1, February 1998 |
| Pages | pp 67-70 |
| Keywords | Falls ; Screening ; Admission [hospitals] ; United States of America. |
| Annotation | To test the hypothesis that a history of falling is under-reported by physicians and nurses, the authors assessed the extent to which previous falls are noted in the admission medical history. 168 community-dwelling and institutionalised over 70s were evaluated in the emergency ward of a teaching hospital and admitted to a general medical ward. Admission notes were reviewed for the inclusion of `falls'. Within 72 hours of admission, the information provided or omitted in the medical record was confirmed or refuted by face-to-face interview. Follow-up data were gleaned from computer-based records. The sample population consisted of 113 patients, 56% female, mean age 80.7 years. 76 patients had fallen within the past ten years; of these, 32 (42%) were recent fallers, and 44 (58%) were multiple fallers. Review of the medical records revealed that 56 (74%) of the 74 fallers were not noted to have fallen by the medical staff; and 15 of the recent fallers and 28 of the multiple fallers were missed. Examination of nursing notes yielded similar results. To conclude, older patients fall more frequently than recognised; and physicians and/or nurses should include a question regarding falls as part of the routine medical history. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-980625228 A |
| Classmark | OLF: 3V: LD:QKH: 7T |
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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