Abstract

COSTA-DIAS, Maria José Martins da et al. Falls of patients admitted to hospital, association with medication. Rev. Enf. Ref. [online]. 2013, vol.serIII, n.9, pp.105-114. ISSN 0874-0283.  https://doi.org/10.12707/RIII12142.

The causes of falls are multifactorial and medications make a significant contribution. The objective of this study is to explore the association between medications and falls and recurrent falls (n = 2) in the hospitalization period in a large hospital in Lisbon between June 2008 and December 2010. Its design is retrospective, using a sample of 214 episodes of fall event notification from 190 patients. Through the technique of face-to-face consensus, the treatment groups to be investigated emerged. In the data analysis we used the Student’s t test, ANOVA and Odds Ratio. Patients taking medications associated with risk of falling are 10 times more likely to have fall risk (OR=9.90;95%CI;1.61-60.63), especially when taking medications from groups affecting the central nervous system. An association was found between falls and their recurrence and being medicated with haloperidol (OR=6,09;95%CI;1,30-28,54) (OR=3,32;95%CI;1,61-6,85).This study allowed identification of factors that nurses should consider when prescribing interventions to prevent falls and their recurrence when patients are admitted to acute care hospitals.

Keywords : accidental falls; pharmaceutical preparations; hospital services; adult.

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