Sunday, July 22, 2012

High Fall Rates Among Short-Stay Nursing Home Patients

One in five short-stay nursing home patients sustains a fall after their admission, and certified nursing assistant (CNA) staffing is associated with decreased fall risk, according to a study led by USC researcher Natalie Leland. The study recently was published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
Though falls are unintentional, they hardly are insignificant: the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services reports fall rates as a quality indicator, and falls of nursing home residents have been associated with greater morbidity, mortality and health care costs.
Leland, who holds joint appointments at the USC Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy and the USC Davis School of Gerontology, and colleagues from Brown University analyzed the 2006 Minimum Data Set (MDS) assessments of all first-time Medicare and Medicaid patients admitted to a nursing home

USC-Led Study Analyzes Fall Rates Among Short-Stay Nursing Home Patients | USC News

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