Preventing Falls in the Elderly
Include the following in your paper:
Introduction:
Provide an overview of the community health issue as described in Part A (observing activity and exercise patterns within a community) with identified causes and influences, including knowledge gaps.
Detail the prevalence of the issue inside and outside the United States.
Describe potential monetary costs associated with the issue in the United States.
You must include data as part of your introduction (images, charts, graphs, etc., may be included as well as written data).
Describe advance practice roles and management strategies that affect change at the community level.
Identify key community and social resources that negatively and positively affect the selected issue.
Identify changes or enhancements in community-related services for your selected topic.
Develop a strategic plan that could decrease the prevalence of your selected topic. The goals for this plan needs to be specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-bound. Include how your plan takes into consideration health literacy, socioeconomic factors, and cultural differences.
Conclusion:
A summary of the goals and challenges
An assessment of the outlook for action/progress
Sample Answer
Falls among the Elderly
Falls are a major healthcare concern for older adults. Changes in physical robustness, such as declining vision and hearing, loss of muscular strength, and chronic pain, are some of the chief contributors to falls as people get older. Therefore, long-term illnesses or conditions that enhance frailty influence the risk of falling for an individual. Moreover, a person’s environment can contribute to or prevent a fall. Unfortunately, knowledge about falls and preventing them is a challenge among the elderly, depending on various socioeconomic factors (such as living status, general literacy levels, and demographics) (Gamage et al., 2018). Therefore, nurses have a crucial role to play in enhancing awareness of falls to reduce their prevalence.
In the United States, there are roughly 32 million fall reports per year, meaning that every second, an older person falls (CDC, 2020a). The country has about 46 million older adults, meaning that if each patient falls only once, then almost 70% of them fall each year. Comparatively, one in three older adults falls per year in the UK, though the prevalence increases as they get older (National Health Service, 2021). Meanwhile, Australia reports a 30% fall rate among its elderly (Australian and New Zealand Falls Prevention Society, 2021). Figures 1 and 2 summarize the three nations’ data, showing that United States’ healthcare stakeholders need to address the issue comprehensively. The falls in the US cause about 32000 deaths annually and three million emergency treatment cases. Overall, the country spends 50.754 billion dollars annually on fatal and non-fatal falls (CDC, 2020b). Therefore, falls create a huge financial burden on the healthcare sector, hence the need to implement appropriate community-based interventions.
Figure 1: Population Comparison
Figure 2: Prevalence of Falls in USA, UK, and Australia
Advanced Practice Roles and Management Strategies
Advanced nursing roles, such as community engagement, can impact health outcomes. Nurses interact with members of a population to understand their health and non-clinical needs. The nurse then develops and implements a solution that will address these issues. For instance, they can educate the community or avail the resources they need. On the other hand, effective management strategies create a space for nurses to perform their roles. For example, a research-oriented healthcare manager will emphasize the need for evidence-based practice, resulting in timely determination of needs and implementation of relevant healthcare mitigations.
Community and Social Resources
Resources such as housing influence fall rates. Older adults living in neighborhoods with decent housing are less likely to fall (Nicklett et al., 2017). The lower fall rate arises from better designs (adequate lighting and non-steep staircases) and considerations for physical challenges (such as elevators). Meanwhile, poor housing enhances fall risks. Another essential social resource is a community-based program where neighbors routinely check up on the needy, such as the elderly. Thus, elderly people will avoid risky tasks, such as replacing a bulb, since they know they can call a neighbor to help them. Hence, they reduce their risk of falling.
Changes in Community-Related Services
Over the past decade, the American healthcare sector has become more aware of the fall risk that older adults face. For example, The American Geriatric Society is teaching older adults about ways of preventing falls. They educate them on the importance of annual balance screening, improved dietary habits, and regular physical exercise (Moncada & Mire, 2017). This organization and other stakeholders in geriatric health are also encouraging clinicians, particularly nurses, to understand older adult needs better. Therefore, these enhancements are helping curb the national falls rate for the population.
Strategic Plan
A community-based solution to reduce the prevalence of older adult falls would comprise needs evaluation, patient education, and resource provision. The needs assessment would help determine the specific social and personal contributors to falls. Social factors include socioeconomic status and cultural influences, while health literacy is a personal contributor. The leader would then hold educational forums with the elderly and their caretakers to enhance their awareness of falls. The sessions would focus on the challenges that the assessment process identified. Next, the nurse leader would mobilize necessary resources, such as walking aids, from different healthcare institutions, charity organizations, and local leaders. Finally, the nurse would conduct post-intervention and follow-up evaluations to assess the usefulness of the intervention. One of the plan’s goals would include increasing knowledge on falls among older adults’ caretakers within the duration of the educational program. Another objective would be to reduce the number of risks that older adults face through enhanced knowledge. Finally, the plan would create a community health program template for future interventions on the same or other healthcare issues.
Conclusion
Falls rates among older adults in the United States are alarming. Addressing this challenge will require advanced nursing competency and elaborate management strategies. One such plan would entail increasing awareness of falls among older adults and those who live with or assist them. The intervention would require multiple external resources to be successful, hence the need for coordination between associated organizations and local leadership. If well-implemented, the plan would become an excellent case study that other nurse leaders can use to address falls in their communities.
