Home Health & Hospice Week

Add these risk factors to your agency's falls risk assessment. If your patient uses a walker but has had no instruction in using it safely, don't be surprised to find her in the emergency room. A new study published in the July issue of the Journal of the American Geriatric Society shows that injuries and hospital admissions for falls associated with walking aides are frequent in the over 65 population, most commonly fractures, contusions and abrasions. About one-third of the injured required hospitalization. "An estimated 47,312 older adult fall injuries associated with walking aids were treated annually in U.S. emergency departments: 87.3% with walkers, 12.3% with canes, and 0.4% with both," the study reports. Seven times as many injuries occurred with walkers as with canes, and women were injured at a higher rate than men, the study says. Heads up: Sixty percent of the falls injuries with walkers and canes [...]