Question

quantitative research critique article in this article:

the article , the hypothesis/question, population and sample, variable , measurement of variables, data collection and analysis, results and conclusion the article is The article: Factors associated with the risk of falls in hospitalized adult patients

Answer 1

Factors associated with the risk of falls in hospitalized adult patients

INTRODUCTION:

Despite efforts in hospitals to identify patients at risk for falls and to prevent these incidents, falls among hospitalized patients are not a rare event and continue to be a major health care concern,

Population- approximately 900,000-1,500,000 hospitalized patients per year.

Sample- 500 patients admitted to a medical-surgical unit over the year

Variables:-

age, gender, reason for hospitalization, medical specialization that referred hospitalization, type of hospitalization, diseases,use of devices, defciencies, and extrinsic and intrinsic factors.

PURPOSE:- The purpose of this study was to examine intrinsic, extrinsic, and workforce factors that contribute to falls among hospitalized adult patients.

METHODS:

• A quantitative, cross-sectional and analytical study developed in Clinical and Surgical Hospitalization Units of a medium-sized private hospital. Analytical weighting was applied to the study sample to conduct bivariate and multivariate analysis.

• Participants were hospitalized patients at these units from June 1 to August 17, 2010 based on the number of hospital admissions in the same period of the previous year in order to have similar hospi-talization characteristics, Thee sample size was calculated with a 3% error, a 95% confdence level and a 50% risk of fall ratio (p=0.5),

FINDINGS:

In multivariate analysis, the variables age, narcotic/sedative use, and overnight shift, significantly predicted the likelihood of a fall during the hospitalization. Cardiovascular disease, neuromusculoskeletal disease, evening shift, the implementation of fall prevention strategies and higher RN to unlicensed assistive personnel staffing ratios decreased the likelihood of a fall during the hospitalization. In addition, patients at high risk for falls using the Hendrich I fall scale were nearly 15% more likely to fall during the hospitalization.

Data Collection:-

Data collection instruments were individually applied in the patient’s hospitalization unit in their bed after explanation about the research and signing of the Clear and Informed Consent Form two ways. In cases of unresponsive patients, the patient’s family member or responsible caregiver(having more than 5 months of accompanying the patient) was consulted.

RESULTS

500patients participated in the study, 62.3% were females aged between 18 and 70 years, 54.6% of the patients were under the age of 50, 29.1% had incomplete primary education, 76.2% were white and 52.8% were married.Regarding the risk of falls according to the Morse scale,30% of the patients were classi?ed as having a low risk offalling, 20% with moderate risk and 50% with high risk.

No association (p=0.072) between gender and the risk of falls (Morse scale) was observed. On the other hand, an association (p <0.001) between age (elderly and non-elderly)

CONCLUSIONS:

Many factors influence the occurrence of a fall in hospitalized patients. Fall risk assessment and the implementation of fall prevention strategies are both effective strategies in the clinical area to identify and decrease the probability of a fall. The presence of the RN is significant in fall prevention in medical-surgical patients.