Characteristics of Fallers in Orthopedic Hospitalization

Background:
The causes of falls are heterogeneous and represent an interaction between patient and environmental factors. This article aim is to explore characteristics of patients who fell in an orthopedic department and explore possible reasons for their falls.

Methods:
This is a retrospective case-control study of adult patients who were hospitalized in the orthopedic department of a major hospital and sustained a fall. Sociodemographic and medical characteristics of randomly sampled patients who fell (cases, n = 128) and their controls (n = 128) were compared.

Results:
Fallers were younger, had less comorbidities, took less medications, and had a shorter length of stay than non-fallers. Moreover, fallers` reasons for hospitalization were not necessarily associated with limited mobility. Fall events occurred most frequently from the patient`s bed and in the bathroom, during night shifts. These were probably unwitnessed falls, characterized by lack of assistance.

Conclusions:
Our study portrays atypical fallers, that is, patients who had no obvious risk factors for falls and thus, allegedly, were not expected to fall. It seems that at least some of these falls could be prevented by the nurses, had patients received adequate guidance to ask for assistance. Prevention efforts should be targeted all patient.