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Witnessed and unwitnessed falls among the elderly with dementia in Japanese nursing homes †
Author(s) -
KOBAYASHI Nami,
SUGAI Yuuichi
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
japan journal of nursing science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.363
H-Index - 17
eISSN - 1742-7924
pISSN - 1742-7932
DOI - 10.1111/j.1742-7924.2006.00053.x
Subject(s) - medicine , dementia , observational study , incidence (geometry) , descriptive statistics , emergency medicine , exact test , medical emergency , disease , statistics , physics , mathematics , optics
Aim: The purpose of this research was to describe the incidence of witnessed and unwitnessed falls among the elderly with dementia and to examine the differences between them. Methods: We analyzed 276 reports from nine nursing homes in Japan. Descriptive statistics were used to investigate the situations when a fall occurred or when an incident was found. Fisher’s exact test was used to calculate the P ‐value to examine the association between witnessed or unwitnessed falls and the variables set in each component of our model. After identifying the variables possibly associated with witnessed and unwitnessed falls, we examined the compounded effects among these variables and classified them into two groups: witnessed and unwitnessed falls. Then, we scrutinized the distribution of the observational data among the variables. Results: Fourteen percent of the falls were witnessed. Four variables, the careworker/nurse as the reporter, Clinical Dementia Rating, depression in the elderly, and the time of the fall/discovery of the fall, were identified as variables that were different between the witnessed and unwitnessed falls. When compared to nurses, careworkers witnessed more falls specifically during the day. Falls were rarely witnessed among the subjects with mild dementia, although they were found after the incident throughout the day. The number of severely impaired fallers that were either witnessed or found were equal during every hour of the day. Conclusion: The cognitive level of the elderly and the work shift of the care professionals potentially influenced the large number of unwitnessed falls. Nursing home administrators should consider these elements in fall prevention, especially for the elderly with dementia.