@article{ref1,
title="Etiology of Falls among Cognitively Intact Hospice Patients",
journal="Journal of Palliative Medicine",
year="2010",
author="Schonwetter, Ronald S. and Kim, Sehwan and Kirby, Jackie and Martin, Brenda and Henderson, Irene",
volume="13",
number="11",
pages="1353-1363",
abstract="Background: Falls can pose a serious threat to hospice patients receiving palliative care. Interventions to reduce falls have yielded minimal results among older patients. Falls among hospice patients provide a unique population from which a new approach to fall prevention may need to be established. Objective: The aim is to devise a forecasting model with which to predict the probability of a patient fall and evaluate whether the model predicts patient falls better than existing measures. Methods: Two hundred patients were randomly selected from one of the largest hospices in the United States. After patient admission, patient falls were followed-up via weekly calls until a fall, patient death, or hospice discharge occurred. Independent factors included demographic, functional status, environmental measures, symptoms, medications, attitudinal dispositions, and the use of an ambulatory aid. Results: Cognitively intact hospice patients who have a higher risk of falls are those who had a past history of a fall (p = 0.022), patients that are physically more functional as demonstrated by higher score on the Palliative Performance Scale (p = .039), patients with a greater &quot;fear-of-losing-independence (p = 0.023),&quot; those who try to &quot;avoid asking for help (p = 0.005),&quot; and those who &quot;feel uneasy about asking for help (p = 0.05).&quot; Patients who depend on ambulatory aids were less likely to fall (p = 0.06). The forecasting model predicted patient falls correctly in 78% of the patients observed. Conclusions: The current model predicted fall occurrence far better than the Morse Falls Scale and other functional status measures and may lead to a shift in fall prevention approaches among hospice patients.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1096-6218",
doi="10.1089/jpm.2010.0140",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1089/jpm.2010.0140"
}