Age related changes
This physiological term describes the progressive, age related loss of muscle mass and tone, which is identified as a primary intrinsic risk factor for falls in the elderly.
What is sarcopenia?
This term describes the progressive, age-related loss of muscle mass and tone, which serves as a primary intrinsic risk factor for falls
What is sarcopenia?
This neurological finding is a normal part of aging, but it requires nurses to allow for extra time when a patient is reacting to a verbal command during mobility testing
What are slower reflexes or processing delays?
This proactive nursing intervention involves meeting the "Four P's" every 60 minutes to reduce the likelihood of a patient attempting a dangerous self transfer
What is purposeful hourly rounding?
To capture processing delays, timing for this functional mobility test must start on the word "Go" and end only when the patient’s back contacts the back of the chair
What is the Timed Up and Go (TUG) test?
While a gradual reduction in this skeletal factor is a normal part of aging, a severe decline can lead to bones becoming fragile and porous, often linked to hormonal disturbances in postmenopausal women?
What is bone density?
This severe health issue, often linked to hormonal disturbances in women, makes bones fragile, porous, and highly susceptible to fractures from minor falls
What is osteoporosis?
This sensory deficit increases the risk of silent injuries, such as a geriatric patient sustaining a burn from a heating pad without realizing it
What is a decreased sense of touch and pain reception?
In this set of priorities addressed during rounding, the nurse specifically ensures the patient is comfortable and their call light and personal items are within reach
What are Pain, Placement, Potty, and Positioning?
This specific balance tool measures ankle strength by having the patient stand with their feet together for 10 seconds with their eyes closed
What is the Near Tandem Stand Test?
This specific sensory change in geriatric patients increases the risk for "silent" injuries, such as a patient sustaining a burn from a heating pad without perceiving the damage
What is a decreased sense of touch and pain reception?
Human walking is clinically described as this specific three part sequence, which explains why human gait is inherently unstable
What is the "act of falling forward and catching oneself"?
This pathological condition is associated with a disproportionately high fall rate and a significantly increased fear of falling
What is Alzheimer’s disease or dementia?
Research identifies this specific group as being at the highest risk for falls within a long-term care or hospital environment
Who are newly admitted patients (within the first 30 days)?
This fall risk assessment model is often preferred in acute care because it includes factors like symptomatic depression and altered elimination
What is the Hendrich II Fall Risk Model?
To accurately assess functional mobility, a nurse must account for this normal neurological change by starting the timer on the word "Go" rather than when the patient begins to move
What are slower reflexes or processing delays?
This medication class, specifically drugs like rosuvastatin, requires monitoring for muscle weakness as it can lead to the destruction of muscle tissue
What are antilipidemics (statins)?
A patient who attempts to brush their hair with a toothbrush is exhibiting this specific cognitive deficit often seen in advanced neurological decline
What is apraxia?
According to the STEADI algorithm, this specific vitamin intake should be assessed and supplemented if a patient is screened as being at risk for falls
What is Vitamin D?
This test measures a patient's leg muscle strength by timing how long it takes them to rise and sit from a chair with their arms folded
What is the Five Times Sit to Stand test?
Maintenance of this complex skill requires the central nervous system to integrate sensory information from the visual, vestibular, and somatosensory pathways, all of which can be impaired by aging.
What is postural stability (or balance)?
These changes shift the geriatric patient’s center of mass, narrowing their limits of stability and making both static and dynamic balance more difficult to maintain
What are postural stability changes?
The maintenance of balance requires the central nervous system to integrate sensory information from these three specific pathways
What are the visual, vestibular, and somatosensory pathways?
These two medication classes are identified as the primary modifiable risk factors that significantly increase a patient's odds of falling
What are antiepileptics and benzodiazepines?
For standardized TUG testing, the walking course must be precisely this length, measured with a string rather than by pacing it out
What is 3 meters?