Vnitr Lek 2021, 67(7):E3-E7 | DOI: 10.36290/vnl.2021.113

Monitoring and analysis of fall risk factors in hospitalized patients

Iva Brabcová¹, Hana Hajduchová¹, Valérie Tóthová¹, Sylva Bártlová¹, Jiří Holý¹, Martin Doseděl², Josef Malý², Jiří Vlček²

¹ Zdravotně sociální fakulta Jihočeské univerzity v Českých Budějovicích, Ústav ošetřovatelství, porodní asistence a neodkladné péče, České Budějovice

² Farmaceutická fakulta v Hradci Králové, Univerzita Karlova, Katedra sociální a klinické farmacie, Hradec Králové

Goal: The goal of the study was to identify pharmacological and non-pharmacological fall risk factors in hospitalized patients.

Methodology: A multicenter observational case study and monitoring was chosen for this purpose. The study involved patients hospitalized at 20 hospital units of the South Bohemian Region between 2017 and 2019. The total number included 378 patients with falls (case group) and 1,821 patients without falls (control group).

Results: Dementia OR 2.47 [95%; CI 2.01-3.76] and stroke OR 6.83 [95%; CI: 3.47-13.45] were the most probable diagnoses to increase the fall risk. The medication groups that significantly increased the fall risk included psycholeptics, antipsychotics, particularly tiaprid, and ophthalmology drugs. The significant non-pharmacological risk factors included the presence of falls in the case history, an increased fall risk at the admission, patient`s reduced mobility, confusion and restlessness. On the other hand, an early physiotherapy was identified as a protective factor reducing the fall risk.

Conclusion: The study shows that causes of falls have a multifactorial character. The plan for the prevention of hospitalized patients` falls needs to be complex and, at the same time, highly individualized. This can be achieved by multidisciplinary cooperation of the healthcare team. Besides doctors, nurses and physiotherapists, clinical pharmacists start to play an important role.

Keywords: falls, patients, hospital, risk factors, doctor, nurse, pharmacist.

Published: November 1, 2021  Show citation