Falls Epidemiology at King Abdulaziz University Hospital, Jeddah -Saudi Arabia-2009

Aim: Fall is considered usually as a sensitive quality indicator associated with patient safety, quality of care, and unfortunately risk of morbidities including head injuries and fractures. Hospital falls were found to be related mainly to the patient characteristics, plus some circumstances and activities which may facilitate these falls to occur. It affects approximately 2% to 17% of patients during their hospital stay and falls rate varies from 1.4 up to 17.9 falls per 1000 patient days depending on hospital type and patient population. Although there is some researches about falls in developing countries, however most of these lack investigating the underlying causes and SA is not an exception of this rule. Objectives: To determine the magnitude of falls among hospitalized patients at King Abdulaziz University Hospital (KING ABDULAZIZ UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL) in two wards; medical and surgical and to study the predisposing factors and co-morbidities. Design and setting: A cohort prospective study for a period of 3 months was applied targeting male and female patients in the two selected wards using an structured interview questionnaire Main outcomes measure: Number of cases sustaining falls and fall risk factors related to the patient health status, environment and nursing. Results: Total fallers were 2.4% of the total cases reviewed (1115 cases; mean age: 48.59 +/- 19.931years) with 70.4% and 29.6% observed in medical and surgical wards, respectively with significant difference (P<0.05). Among the fallers, males represented 51.9% of the cases. Syncope, vertigo, degree of alertness before fall, a previous history of fall in the past three months, wet floor, lowered bed side rails, malfunctioning of emergency system were among the significant predisposing factors to falls among studied sample(P<0.05). Conclusion: Falls are not uncommon among hospitalized patients (2.4%) with various predisposing factors such as Syncope, vertigo, a previous history of fall in the past three months, degree of alertness before fall, wet floor, lowered bed side rails, malfunctioning of emergency system. Large scale studies should be conducted in the future to establish the various factors contributing to falls over a longer period of time. [Al Jhdali H., Al Amoudi B. and Abdulbagi D. Falls Epidemiology at King Abdulaziz University Hospital, Jeddah Saudi Arabia-2009. Life Sci J 2012; 9(2):1174-1178]. (ISSN:1097-8135). http://www.lifesciencesite.com. 175