Risk Assessment Falls. Health, Medicine, Nursing Essay

Risk Assessment Falls
Student Name
Course
Institution
Date
Introduction
Unintentional falls remain a major health problem especially among older adults in England. Falls have heavy costs on the patients, family members, and the healthcare system. Knowing the detailed information about patient falls among older adults is critical in eliciting concern among health practitioners and policymakers in how to prevent them. The purpose of this risk assessment falls is to review the heavy impact and costs falls have on the healthcare system. The recommendations of this assessment will be critical in providing the necessary economic rationale and information to the relevant stakeholders, like social services providers, policymakers, and health care practitioners. They will be able to take action to prevent falls and improve on the existing treatment and rehabilitation approaches.
Importance of the chosen risk assessment in practice
Prevalence
A fall can happen to all individuals. However, falls are a serious problem for older adults. As individuals age, they are more likely to fall over. Individuals above 65 years have a higher risk of falling compared to any other age group (Gale, Cooper, and Aihie Sayer, 2016). For those aged between 65 and 79 years, the risk of falling is 30%, while for individuals older than 80 years, the risk is 50%. In England, the number of older adults is increasing, hence the repercussions of falls on the healthcare system are considerable. In terms of sex, females are more likely to fall compared to men (Wei & Hester, 2014).
Cost to NHS
Patient falls are costly to the National Health Service (NHS). In England, cost the NHS more than £4.4 billion annually (Public Health England, 2017). Since a larger portion of the expenses is spend on older adult-related cases, NHS will incur more costs in the future as the number of people in this age group increases. As NHS spends such an amount on fall-related cases, it reduces its expenditure on other health-related aspects that are important. Additionally, falls have overhead associated costs like ambulance services and social care services (Public Health England, 2017). Overall, patient falls force NHS to spend more on something that could otherwise be prevented.
Impact on patient
Falls have adverse effects on older adults. Firstly, they lead to physical injuries like pain, bruising, lacerations, scratches, and fractures among others (CDC, 2020). Such injuries hinder mobility and confine older adults. At the same time, falls can cause head injuries. These can be dangerous especially for older adults taking particular medicines like blood thinners. These medications are used to prevent blood clots. Older adults taking the medications can have prolonged bleeding from a head injury. Secondly, falls can lead to injuries that can result in a loss of confidence (Sherrington and Tiedemann, 2015). This may lead to prematurely entering long-term care. Family members could be forced to care for older adults. This limits the time they can spend on more productive activities. Additionally, falls lengthen the stay in hospitals. Compared to the other causes of hospitalization for older adults. Fall-related injuries result in a longer hospital sta...