Fraser Health rolls out Falls and Injuries Prevention in hospitals

Having lived independently until a couple of years ago, and keeping a house and garden of her own, she was always busy and active, mowing the lawn and digging in to her vegetable garden.

But as with so many seniors, she suffered a fall one  morning doing something as ordinary as getting up out of bed. Crash! It happened so suddenly, and there she was lying on the hardwood floor of her bedroom for over two hours, unable to reach for the phone to get help, and virtually stuck with no idea how long she would be there, immobile and helpless.

Fortunately for her, Mrs. Kariya’s son came by to visit a couple of hours later, and he was able to rescue her. She was sent to Emergency at Burnaby Hospital and soon found herself in surgery after it was found she suffered a serious hip fracture. It meant a long recovery of a month in hospital, with six more weeks in rehabilitation. Her souvenir of the fall and injury is a steel pin in her hip and a scar down the side of her leg.

It was a hard road back, and there were adjustments to be made, including the sale of her house. But Mrs. Kariya is a model of personal reinvention. She has adapted well with a resolve to be as fit as possible by working out several mornings a week, and staying involved in life and what it has to offer—whether it’s bingo night or special outings.

“I really like living here,” she says. “And I am more confident when I am wearing my hip protectors.” She has two pair that she interchanges with laundry day.

Her advice to other seniors about the use of hip protectors, “Just wear it!”

As Mrs. Kariya knows, falls can have a major impact on a person’s quality of life by causing serious injuries, robbing seniors of self-confidence and freedom of movement, and preventing them from returning home. In fact, approximately 1 out of 4  people who have a hip fracture die within one year of the fracture, while less than half are able to recover well enough to return home or live independently again. Although it is common for seniors to fall in their own home, many seniors’ falls happen in hospitals. In fact, in 2008/09 there were about 4,000 falls in FH acute care sites. Thirty percent (30%) of these falls resulted in some type of injury, 59 of which caused in-hospital hip fractures.

There are a number of reasons patients in acute care are at risk for falls, ranging from being in a new environment, the effect of medications, poor balance, lack of muscle strength or the medical reason that sent them to hospital in the first place.

Patricia Roy is a Clinical Nurse Specialist in Acute Geriatrics for Ridge Meadows Hospital, and a major part of her work is to promote falls and injuries prevention practices.

“For many people a serious fall is a milestone in a senior’s life that becomes the final straw before they lose their independence,” explains Roy. “And because these kinds of falls are such a devastating experience for seniors, we are trying very hard to use strategies to lower the number of fractures that result from falls at acute hospitals,” says Roy.

But Roy says that after piloting falls and injuries prevention strategies in the sub-acute convalescence unit at Ridge Meadows Hospital between 2007 and 2009, the number of falls decreased by 50 per cent and there were no serious injuries.

“The strategies really work,” says Roy.

The Fraser Health Falls Prevention Team and the Acute Care Falls Prevention Clinical Working Group have been working diligently to help prevent falls and related injuries in Fraser Health, and have just rolled out a universally endorsed falls prevention plan at hospitals across Fraser Health. Information tables on falls and injuries were set up across Fraser Health hospitals to inform patients and the public about how to prevent falls and injuries during this year’s Seniors Falls Prevention Week, November 2nd to 9th.

For more information about what you can do to spare yourself or a loved one a falls related injury, go to the Fraser Health website or contact Fabio Feldman at Fabio.feldman@fraserhealth.ca.