This article discusses how patient perceptions contribute to falling risk. Falls decrease when patients are not afraid of falling and do not perceive adverse consequences if they do fall. To ensure fall prevention, patients must have increased confidence that they can perform high-risk behaviors without help and without falling. As individuals age, the risk for falling increases. Falls are the leading driver of health care costs, amounting to over $30 billion each year. By understanding patient perceptions as one of the causes of patient falls, we can reduce this number. This is in terms of education and awareness for at-risk patients, especially older ones.
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STRUCTURE OF PATIENT EDUCATION PROGRAMS
Patient education programs contribute a lot in fall prevention. Falls knowledge and insight of patients into their own falls risk is a key determinant of hospital falls. Despite mandated government regulations and hospital fall prevention programs, hospitals continue to report falls as their most common adverse event. Part of the reason for this is patient perceptions. The degree of success may depend on the structure of these education programs and their delivery to patients. Additionally, there is a significant need to improve fall prevention programs and interventions to decrease morbidity, mortality, and costs. This way, patients will understand their perceptions as potential causes of patient falls. Therefore, they can work towards preventing falls on their own.
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HOW PATIENT PERCEPTIONS CONTRIBUTE TO FALL RIST AND EMERGING ISSUES IN PREVENTING PATIENT FALLS
Emerging research indicates that patient perceptions and patient-related factors can influence the frequency and severity of hospital falls. Studies investigating patients’ views of their causes of patients’ falls observe a disparity between their perceptions and the actual risk when in hospital. Sometimes, patients take unnecessary risks, such as getting out of bed and toileting without assistance. Some do not always engage fully with fall prevention strategies. This is particularly the case for hospitalized patients with dementia, delirium, and other cognitive impairments. Lastly, only a few fall prevention strategies design the intervention based on behavior change models and educational principles.
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