Community Health Promotion : Falls Prevention and Health Promotion in Older Adults

Running head: COMMUNITY HEALTH PROMOTION 1
Falls Prevention and health Promotion in Older Adults
Nisha Varghese
Athabasca University
Author Note

COMMUNITY HEALTH PROMOTION 2
Falls Prevention and Health Promotion in Older Adults
The nursing community plays a critical role in developing a care plan and ensuring
interventions for the promotion of health and safety of the community. In the geriatric
community, that is, the patient population comprising of the elderly, falls are considered to be
one of the most common phenomena. The incidence of falls leads to severe psychological
and physical impact on the patient, resulting in reduced quality of life, increased dependence
on others, chronic pain, disability, and even death (Canadian Patient Safety Institute, 2014).
To prevent the subsequent injuries and risks associated with falls, a greater understanding of
the risk factors and implementation of effective strategies is required. The following sections
of the paper will discuss the determinants of falls in the geriatric ward and aim at reviewing
the preventive and follow-up measures to reduce fall-related injuries that can be employed
within the community for the same set of patients.
Determinants of Falls in Elderly
The cause behind the incidences of falls in geriatric wards are multifactorial and are
resulted from the convergence of several factors, which are mostly behavioral, daily-activity
related, environmental, pharmacologic, and intrinsic (Berg, 1992). The most important
determinants of risk factors associated with falls in the elderly population are usually either
environmental or situational. The intrinsic risk factors are predominant and include age-
related physical conditions such as arthritis, impaired reflexes, gait & balance issues, sensory
impairment, or impaired vision. In the pharmacological risk factors, medication errors, or
other medications with side-effects, such as anti-hypertensive, anti-Parkinson, or
psychotropic drugs that affect the patients by depressing psychomotor function, causing
fatigue and postural hypotension.
The environmental hazards are one of the most prominent factors influencing the
incidence of falls and includes infrastructural faults such as inadequate lighting, clutter,

COMMUNITY HEALTH PROMOTION 3
stairway design, unsecured mats, skid surfaces in bathtubs, and slippery floors. According to
Plaksin (2014), at least on environmental risk factors are reported to be in 50-80 per cent of
total falls recorded.
Health Concepts
Falls are highly preventable; however, with the presence of multifactorial nature
behind falls, it is evident that it is one of the fastest-growing health concern and requires to be
addressed with shared responsibility from the community stakeholders. Multisectoral
collaboration is required to achieve dramatic progress in the prevention of falls, which
include the participation of the non-government organizations, health care providers,
government of different levels, and, most importantly, the population itself (Public Health
Agency of Canada, 2014).
Exercise and Physical Activity
Increasing endurance and strengthening muscles with the help of exercises and
physical activities are one of the crucial strategies to improve the postural reflexes, joint
motion, improving alertness, and cardiorespiratory function. A meta-analysis of 7
randomized trials found that planned exercise programs reduce the incidence of falls in an at-
risk population (Hanley, 2011). In addition, a randomized controlled study found a 54%
reduction in falls among women aged above 65 years receiving the exercise program
(Hanley, 2011).
Exercise, especially practices that aims quality, stride, and parity, has been found to
diminish fall hazard and falls, despite the fact that the impact varies by length, power, type,
time for development, and different components (Dellinger, 2017). The best exercise
mediations distinguished were community-based projects that included at least two exercise
parts, separately custom fitted projects conveyed in the home, and network based Tai Chi