IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v20y2022i1p454-d1016943.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Exploring Hospital Inpatients’ Awareness of Their Falls Risk: A Qualitative Exploratory Study

Author

Listed:
  • Elissa Dabkowski

    (Institute of Health and Wellbeing, Federation University Australia, Gippsland, VIC 3842, Australia)

  • Simon J. Cooper

    (Health Innovation and Transformation Centre, Federation University Australia, Berwick, VIC 3806, Australia)

  • Jhodie R. Duncan

    (Research Unit, Latrobe Regional Hospital, Traralgon, VIC 3844, Australia)

  • Karen Missen

    (Institute of Health and Wellbeing, Federation University Australia, Gippsland, VIC 3842, Australia)

Abstract

Patient falls in hospital may lead to physical, psychological, social and financial impacts. Understanding patients’ perceptions of their fall risk will help to direct fall prevention strategies and understand patient behaviours. The aim of this study was to explore the perceptions and experiences that influence a patient’s understanding of their fall risk in regional Australian hospitals. Semi-structured, individual interviews were conducted in wards across three Australian hospitals. Participants were aged 40 years and over, able to communicate in English and were mobile prior to hospital admission. Participants were excluded from the study if they returned a Standardised Mini-Mental State Examination (SMMSE) score of less than 18 when assessed by the researcher. A total of 18 participants with an average age of 69.8 years (SD ± 12.7, range 41 to 84 years) from three regional Victorian hospitals were interviewed for this study. Data were analysed using a reflexive thematic analysis identifying three major themes; (1) Environment (extrinsic) (2) Individual (intrinsic), and (3) Outcomes, as well as eight minor themes. Participants recognised the hazardous nature of a hospital and their personal responsibilities in staying safe. Falls education needs to be consistently delivered, with the focus on empowering the patient to help them adjust to changes in their clinical condition, whether temporary or permanent.

Suggested Citation

  • Elissa Dabkowski & Simon J. Cooper & Jhodie R. Duncan & Karen Missen, 2022. "Exploring Hospital Inpatients’ Awareness of Their Falls Risk: A Qualitative Exploratory Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(1), pages 1-14, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2022:i:1:p:454-:d:1016943
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/1/454/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/1/454/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stephanie Gettens & Paul Fulbrook & Melanie Jessup & Nancy Low Choy, 2018. "The patients’ perspective of sustaining a fall in hospital: A qualitative study," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(3-4), pages 743-752, February.
    2. Joanna Jellett & Cylie Williams & Diana Clayton & Virginia Plummer & Terry Haines, 2020. "Falls risk score removal does not impact inpatient falls: A stepped‐wedge, cluster‐randomised trial," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(23-24), pages 4505-4513, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Leane Macêdo de Carvalho & Letície Batista Lira & Lairton Batista de Oliveira & Annarelly Morais Mendes & Francisco Gilberto Fernandes Pereira & Francisca Tereza de Galiza & Lívia Carvalho Pereira & A, 2024. "Analysis of Hospital Safety and Risk of Falls in the Elderly: A Cross-Sectional Study in Brazil," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 21(8), pages 1-14, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Juan‐Antonio Péculo‐Carrasco & Helena De Sola & María‐del‐Mar Casal‐Sánchez & Mónica Rodríguez‐Bouza & César‐Pedro Sánchez‐Almagro & Inmaculada Failde, 2020. "Feeling safe or unsafe in prehospital emergency care: A qualitative study of the experiences of patients, carers and healthcare professionals," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(23-24), pages 4720-4732, December.
    2. Terry P Haines & Mari Botti & Natasha Brusco & Lisa O’Brien & Bernice Redley & Kelly-Ann Bowles & Alison Hutchinson & Debra Mitchell & Joanna Jellett & Kate Steen & Leanne Boyd & Melinda Webb-St Mart , 2021. "Disinvestment in the presence of uncertainty: Description of a novel, multi-group, disinvestment trial design and protocol for an application to reduce or cease use of mobilisation alarms for preventi," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(12), pages 1-17, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2022:i:1:p:454-:d:1016943. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.