Title
Evaluation of the effect of patient education on rates of falls in older hospital patients: Description of a randomised controlled trial
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2009
Abstract
Accidental falls by older patients in hospital are one of the most commonly reported adverse events. Falls after discharge are also common. These falls have enormous physical, psychological and social consequences for older patients, including serious physical injury and reduced quality of life, and are also a source of substantial cost to health systems worldwide. There have been a limited number of randomised controlled trials, mainly using multifactorial interventions, aiming to prevent older people falling whilst inpatients. Trials to date have produced conflicting results and recent meta-analyses highlight that there is still insufficient evidence to clearly identify which interventions may reduce the rate of falls, and falls related injuries, in this population.
Recommended Citation
Hill, A. M., Hill, K., Brauer, S., Oliver, D., Hoffmann, T., Beer, C., et al. (2009). Evaluation of the effect of patient education on rates of falls in older hospital patients: Description of a randomised controlled trial. BMC Geriatrics, 9(April). doi:10.1186/1471-2318-9-14
Comments
BMC Geriatrics is an Open Access publication distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0) and this article may be accessed from the publisher here
BMC Geriatrics may be accessed from the National Library of Australia here
The Author:
Dr Anne-Marie Hill