ANSWER:
Introduction
In elderly adults, recurrent falls are a common issue I identified and carried a significantly increased morbidity and mortality for the population. The recurrent falls can cause stress, physiological distress, and physical harm. Each year, 10% of elderly adults encounter numerous falls, which can be dangerous and result in high morbidity and mortality rates. Another consequence of falls may be the loss of social dependence, which may impact them psychologically (Vaishya &Vaish, 2020). The proposed solution based on the identified issue stems from various evidence-based practices, and an appropriate solution would be to provide education on fall prevention for the elders. The rationale for the solution is to provide the elderly population with a more understanding of the causes of falls due to subjective factors in which the elderly plays a major role, as well as other associated health issues. The education helps them prevent associative activities or situations predisposing them to the recurrent falls and other practices to improve their living environment. The elderly may receive these instructional resources via medical professionals, neighborhood associations, or online services.
Problem Statement: Recurrent falls are a constant healthcare issue affecting the elderly. Innovative proposed practice is necessary to reduce falls to improve their healthcare outcomes.
Research Question: How can patient education on falls to the elderly help reduce the high mortality and morbidity caused?
Picot Question in the Elderly Population, how can fall education-based intervention be compared to other evidence-based practices that lead to the reduction of falls?
Patient
The patient population in the research premise is the elderly, i.e., adults over 65 years. The population is characterized by numerous health implications and aging factors that predispose them to risks of falls. Th factors include the decline in physical fitness. Moreover, confusion results from cognitive disorders. Chronic diseases such as cancer and behavioral and environmental factors may encourage the risk of falling. A fall is caused largely by just one of the primary causes, but any of these causes together might result in a significant injury that could be life-threatening.
Intervention
The proposed intervention for the elderly population is to provide fall education to the patient (Kuhirunyaratn et al., 2019). A caregiver must ensure that your elderly patient and family members or guardians know the dangers of falling and how to reduce them. According to research, the initiative that proves helpful as a public health initiative would be the distribution of a health education program created for fall risk prevention among the elderly. Nurses and caregivers follow the advice of doctors to lower the risk of falls in their patients. They employ a balance impairment program, appropriate medication administration, and good care to help reduce the chance of falls.
Comparison
Other interventions associated with reducing falls for the elderly include remote monitoring; the intervention utilizes monitoring devices to monitor elderly persons at risk of falling all the time with video cameras and monitors (Guirguis-Blake et al., 2018). Another includes regular exercise as a physical therapy which helps the elderly to be more physically active and develop stronger muscles that make them more mobile and with less risk of falls. However, compared to education, the interventions are insignificant in improving the quality of improvement from elders as they carry psychological and physiological strain.
Outcome
The outcome of the intervention is to reduce falls for adults, improve the quality of life, and reduce the high mortality caused due to recurrent and hazardous falls. Numerous therapeutic models can prevent falls; however, the proposed fall education practice for elders has a strong potential to significantly reduce falls in the population.
References
Guirguis-Blake, J. M., Michael, Y. L., Perdue, L. A., Coppola, E. L., & Beil, T. L. (2018). Interventions to Prevent Falls in Older Adults: Updated Evidence Report and Systematic Review for the US Preventive Services Task Force. JAMA, 319(16), 1705–1716. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2017.21962
Kuhirunyaratn, P., Prasomrak, P., & Jindawong, B. (2019). Effects of a Health Education Program on Fall Risk Prevention among the Urban Elderly: A Quasi-Experimental Study. Iranian journal of public health, 48(1), 103–111
Vaishya, R., & Vaish, A. (2020). Falls in Older Adults is Serious. Indian journal of orthopedics, 54(1), 69–74. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43465-019-00037-x
QUESTION:
Discussion Question
Formulating the Research Question, Problem Statement, Research Purpose
In the Week 1 discussion forum you had an opportunity to present a potential problem and an innovative solution specific to your role specialization. In addition, you have reviewed the literature to identify qualitative and quantitative research articles and submitted annotated bibliographies to provide evidence supporting the problem.
Considering the feedback provided to you by the faculty member it is now time to prepare your problem statement, research purpose, and research question.
First share your refined problem and proposed solution (given your review of literature this may have changed depending on the evidence you were able to provide). Next, follow the steps to help define your research question.
Craft the problem statement and research purpose.
Design your research question aimed at solving (a part of) the problem and include the following components which will focus the literature review.
PICOT Question:
Patient, Population or Problem
What are the characteristics of the patient or population?
What is the condition or disease you are interested in?
Intervention or exposure
What do you want to do with this patient (e.g. treat, diagnose, observe)?
Comparison
What is the alternative to the intervention (e.g. placebo, different drug, surgery)?
Outcome
What are the relevant outcomes (e.g. morbidity, death, complications)?
Ensure that the research question is answerable, feasible and clinically relevant
