Ethical Issues in Fall Prevention Assessment 2022

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Introduction: Ethical issues in fall prevention
There is need for nurses to make ethical decisions in support of patients with
disability especially the elderly. The nurses have increasingly faced a lot of ethical issues in
prevention of fall due to the changing systems of health that are complex and varied. All
nurses are supposed to be sensitive to ethical issues that are encountered in provision of care.
Ethical issues help nurses to act as professionals. Falls are the most unique and frequent
adverse event in hospitals at 51% affecting the elderly and people with disability. Of these,
15% of the elderly patients experience serious injuries or near to death experiences (Barker,
et al, 2016). Falling has diverse effects including effects to family members as well as the
victims of the fall. Human cost of falling may include; loss of independence, distress, injury,
pain, loss of confidence and mortality. Prevention of fall care may include physical restraints,
implementation of behavioral suppression and disturbance of patient movement. Nurses may
use the following methods in providing inpatient fall prevention care which include; keeping
of floors dry and clean; walking aids; prohibition of movement of patients and obstacle
removal around beds (Callis, 2016).
Assessment of risk in fall prevention
Assessment of risk fall requires that there should be appropriate measures taken to
prevent fall-related injuries and prevention of falls. Control of patients and restraints and the
potential risky behavior will probably introduce ethical dilemmas that are associated with
non-malfeasance vs. autonomy.

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Ethical issues that may be faced in prevention of fall care stem from three
fundamental issues which are patient care, team communication and human rights. Nurses
often experience dilemma and stress to an extent of moral distress. Professional competencies
in nursing that support decision making for patient are ethically sensitive, establish trust
relationship and clinical judgment. Identification of ethical issues based on the opinion above
are impacted mainly by moral and personal values during fall prevention care (DeGrauw, et
al,2016).
The studies aim is to identify the ethical issues in patients independence and fall. It
has been identified that the greatest risks with elderly people with no supervision from nurses
is injuries that are fall related. Injuries from falls are the majority cause of accidental deaths
in older adults above the age of 70 years. According to the behavioral risk factor survey done
in Illinois in 2008, some persons can show signs of developmental disabilities as early as the
age of 35. Adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities have a higher risks for falls.
What makes a person with disability more likely to fall?
There are various factors that are physically related that lead to an increase in risk of
falling. The factors include; Weak muscles and poor balance ;Poor vision; Poor judgment in
ascertaining the difference between dangerous and safe conditions and activities; Heavy
medication that cause sleepiness, dizziness, balance and coordination and Osteoporosis,
which is a disease that causes the bones to be weak and more likely to easily break. Poor
vision is mainly the cause of many elderly peoples fall. This is because they have limited
vision to see where they are walking to. Dizziness and lack of coordination is also another
main problem leading to likelihood of falling. A lot of elderly people are under medication.