Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
CYPRUS JOURNAL OF MEDICAL SCIENCES, sa.1, ss.43-50, 2024 (ESCI)
BACKGROUND/AIMS: The current study aimed to perform a retrospective analysis of fall events in a tertiary -care hospital and identify the related risk factors. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This research was conducted in a 1,160 -bed -capacity tertiary -care hospital in Ankara between June 2016 and June 2017. The sample comprises 241 patient falls among 1,009 fall events in the facility between 2006 and 2016. Data were retrospectively collected with patient preassessment forms, daily nursing documentation forms, and daily medication order protocols. Means and standard deviations for continuous variables, frequency distributions for categorical variables, and chi-square analysis for the correlation between two categorical variables were used. RESULTS: Of the patients with files investigated, 42.7% were aged from 18 to 65 years, 59.3% were male, 74.1% had a chronic disease, 40.3% could complete daily -life activities independently, and 32% were using medication that increased fall risks. Of the fall events, 29.5% occurred in the pediatric clinics, 29.5% in surgery, and 28.2% in internal medicine clinics. 35.2% occurred during the night shift, and 33% occurred within the first three days of admission. Additionally, 35.7% of the fall events happened due to not taking appropriate safety precautions, 20.2% due to not using the nurse call button, 64.7% were in the patient's room, and 32.6% were due to syncope. CONCLUSION: It was revealed that the riskiest interval for patient falls is in the first three days of admission and during the night shift. While evaluating fall risks, sociodemographic, medical, environmental, and fall -related independent variables should be considered together. It is recommended that fall risk assessment tools be revised by reviewing patients' specific care needs and clinical conditions.