Abstract
Background:
- Falls and associated injuries are a significant area of concern for older adults. Approximately 30% of those aged over 65 and 50% of those aged over 80 experience at least one fall each year.
- NICE guidelines state, “Older people who present for medical attention because of a fall, should be offered a multifactorial falls risk assessment”, which includes review of visual impairment.
Aims:
- To identify if visual impairment was documented on the orthopaedic clerking document for patients admitted following fall.
- To raise awareness of visual impairment as being a significant risk factor for falls in the elderly population.
Methods:
- Data collection was carried out retrospectively for patients presenting following a fall at Tunbridge Wells Hospital, via the orthopaedic admission list.
- Initially, data was collected from April to May 2024 and then from July to August 2024 following the first teaching intervention.
Results:
- 6% of patients (n = 50) admitted following a fall had visual status documented in the orthopaedic clerking document.
- Following the first intervention, 20% of documentation noted visual impairment.
Conclusion:
- Visual impairment was not routinely documented on orthopaedic clerking.
- The first intervention involved delivering a teaching session to the orthopaedic department, highlighting the significance of visual impairment contributing to falls.
- Data collection from July to August 2024 has shown an improvement in documentation, whereby 20% of documentation noted visual impairment.
- The second intervention will involve including these findings in the departmental induction and designing a poster to raise awareness.