Staff knowledge, attitudes and confidence levels for fall preventions in older person long-term care facilities: a cross-sectional study

BMC Geriatrics

Research

Suzanne Timmons¹  Neah Albasha²  Ruth McCullagh³  Nicola Cornally⁴ 

[1] Center for Gerontology and Rehabilitation, School of Medicine, St Finbarr’s Hospital, University College Cork, Block 13, Douglas Road, The Bungalow, Cork, Ireland;Center for Gerontology and Rehabilitation, School of Medicine, St Finbarr’s Hospital, University College Cork, Block 13, Douglas Road, The Bungalow, Cork, Ireland;Rehabilitation Department, College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia;Discipline of Physiotherapy, School of Clinical Therapies, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland;School of Nursing and Midwifery, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland;

关键词: Fall prevention;    Older person;    Long-term care;    Staff;    Knowledge;    Attitude;    Confidence;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12877-023-04323-0

 received in 2023-02-06, accepted in 2023-09-15,  发布年份 2023

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundFalls are the most common health problem affecting older people in long-term care facilities (LTCFs), with well-recognised adverse psychological and physical resident outcomes, and high staff burden and financial cost. LTCF staff knowledge and skills can play a vital role in providing and promoting fall prevention care.MethodsA descriptive cross-sectional survey study was conducted across 13 LTCF sites in the Southwest of Ireland; a sampling frame facilitated inclusion of a range of provider types and facility sizes. An existing questionnaire, based on fall prevention guidance, and examining staff knowledge, skills and attitudes, was distributed in physical and online formats.ResultThe response rate was 15% (n = 155), predominantly healthcare assistants, staff nurses and senior nurses. Almost 90% expressed high confidence levels for delivering fall prevention interventions and being aware of how falls affect LTCFs. However, over half underestimated the fall rate in LTCFs, and only 60% had adequate knowledge. Longer experience in working with older people in healthcare services was associated with greater knowledge (p = .001) and confidence in fall prevention interventions (p = .01), while senior nurses had more knowledge than others (p = .01). LTCF staff had lowest knowledge about “identification systems for residents at high risk of falling”, “keeping confused residents near nursing stations”, “the effect of using antipsychotic medicine on falls”, “using a toileting regimen” and “staff responsibility regarding fall prevention efforts”. Despite their knowledge gaps, nearly 50% thought they had enough fall prevention training; their main preference for any further fall education training was face-to-face education.ConclusionThe results, with the caveat of a low response rate, show the need for interdisciplinary fall prevention training that is tailored to both the perceived learning needs and actual knowledge gap of LTCF staff and their preferences for learning delivery, as part of an overall approach to reducing fall-related adverse outcomes.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© BioMed Central Ltd., part of Springer Nature 2023

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