As people age, falls become not only more common, but more problematic. Every year 300,000 elderly Americans are hospitalized for a hip fracture, and 95% of these fractures are due to falls. Falls are the leading cause of fatal and non-fatal injuries among the U.S. elderly. What are people doing about it? Kaiser Health News has two interesting stories on the topic. First, younger elderly individuals are moving to more “Age-proofed” housing:
Baby boomers want a safe place for them to live as they age. While this caution is well-placed, another KHN article argues that hospitals may be too cautious. In an effort to prevent falls, hospitals may be keeping the elderly on bedrest for too long. Kaiser Health News reports:
Part of the reason hospitals are overly cautious is that starting in 2008, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services imposed financial penalties on hospitals whenever patients fell. The penalties increased when the Affordable Care Act was passed. This created a culture where hospital staff were perhaps overly fearful of falls, as CMS only tracks fall rates, not patient mobility at discharge. Preventing falls is important. But physicians and nurses need to be able to use their discretion to help determine to balance the risk from falls against a lack of mobility. Fear of Falling posted first on http://drugsscreeningpage.blogspot.com/ via Blogger Fear of Falling
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Anthony Williams
I am an experienced pharmacist with interest in content writing. I am also a known blogger for Drug Home Health Testing, an online drug testing and home health business. I write mostly about drug tests but many more from this sector will be coming soon. I am also a top selling author of Drug Test Dilemma! I have previously run a membership site for Drug home test making it in the most convenient way and the same knowledge has been compiled to create my new project Drug Test Dilemma. Personal Links |