Patient Falls and how to reduce in the Healthcare Arena Medicine Essay (Essay Sample)

Patient Falls and how to reduce in the Healthcare Arena
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Patient Falls and how to reduce in the Healthcare Arena
In spite of widespread and long-term attention to prevention of fall, patients continue to fall, and a number of these falls lead to injury. It is noted that their experience is not uncommon. Researchers have estimated that 750,000 and 1,000,000 individuals fall in the United States hospitals every year. Studies have indicated that from 35% to 40% of those patients that sustain an injury as a result of the fall, and around 11,500 falls are fatal (Morse, 2008). The injuries associated with fall might lead to an additional 6.3 hospital days, with the cost for fatal fall with injury averaging $13,056 per patient. Falls among the patients has been identified by the Medicare & Medicaid Centers Services as an event which can be preventable and never occur.Studies have indicatedthat a patient fall is an unintendedancestry to the floor without or with injury to the patient, and happens on a qualified reporting unit of nursing. It is noted that all the types of falls are to be involved whether they result from environmental reasons (slippery floor) or physiological reasons (fainting).Whilsta lot of work has been undertaken in thehospital context, patient falls remain tobe a problem (Morse, 2008).