Compliance was not a problem in the use of hip protectors in a high-risk population in the hospital-admission setting but was weaker in the community setting.
Acceptability and compliance with the use of hip protectors in elderly patients with dementia admitted to a psychogeriatric unit
 
  Key words
 
 
  
   Dementia
  
 
 
  
   Hip protectors
  
 
 
  
   Femur fractures
  
 
 
  
   Acceptability
  
 
 
  
   Compliance
  
 
Objective
to detect the percentage of patients with <dis>dementia</dis> admitted to a psychogeriatric department, who have a high risk of falls, and to evaluate acceptance and compliance with hip protectors during their stay in hospital and 2 weeks and 3 months after discharge.
Material and methods
we performed a hospital-based prospective cohort study.
Risk of falling was evaluated on the basis of immediate bipedal standing instability or abnormal semi-tandem posture, a get-up-and-go test time of more than 20 seconds, or clinical judgement.
Compliance during hospital stay was evaluated through nursing records and compliance outside hospital by telephone interviews at 15 days and 3 months after discharge.
Results
a total of 115 patients consecutively admitted to the psychogeriatric department of the Santa Creu Hospital in Vic were assessed.
Sixty patients (52.2%) were excluded from the study, the main reason being dependence on another person for walking.
Of the 55 patients included, 44 (80.0%) had a high risk of falls and were candidates for hip protectors.
In-hospital compliance was 80.5% (95% CI: 65.1-91.2).
The most common cause of non-compliance was removal of the hip protector by the patient.
Compliance after discharge was 64.5% (95% CI: 45.4-80.8) at 2 weeks and 57.1% (95% CI: 28.9-82.4) at 3 months.
Conclusions
a high risk of falling was found in a large percentage of patients with <dis>dementia</dis> who were <scp><neg>not</neg> <dis>dependent on others for walking</dis></scp>.
Compliance was not a problem in the use of hip protectors in a high-risk population in the hospital-admission setting but was weaker in the community setting.
Objective
to detect the percentage of patients with dementia admitted to a psychogeriatric department, who have a high risk of falls, and to evaluate acceptance and compliance with hip protectors during their stay in hospital and 2 weeks and 3 months after discharge.
Material and methods
we performed a hospital-based prospective cohort study.
Risk of falling was evaluated on the basis of immediate bipedal standing instability or abnormal semi-tandem posture, a get-up-and-go test time of more than 20 seconds, or clinical judgement.
Compliance during hospital stay was evaluated through nursing records and compliance outside hospital by telephone interviews at 15 days and 3 months after discharge.
Results
a total of 115 patients consecutively admitted to the psychogeriatric department of the Santa Creu Hospital in Vic were assessed.
Sixty patients (52.2%) were excluded from the study, the main reason being dependence on another person for walking.
Of the 55 patients included, 44 (80.0%) had a high risk of falls and were candidates for hip protectors.
In-hospital compliance was 80.5% (95% CI: 65.1-91.2).
The most common cause of non-compliance was removal of the hip protector by the patient.
Compliance after discharge was 64.5% (95% CI: 45.4-80.8) at 2 weeks and 57.1% (95% CI: 28.9-82.4) at 3 months.
Conclusions
a high risk of falling was found in a large percentage of patients with dementia who were not dependent on others for walking.
Compliance was not a problem in the use of hip protectors in a high-risk population in the hospital-admission setting but was weaker in the community setting.
Compliance was not a problem in the use of hip protectors in a high-risk population in the hospital-admission setting but was weaker in the community setting.