The problem of falls among the elderly people is a major community issue in the United States of America and the whole world. It is the major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. In fact, health statistics indicate that the issue of falls among the elderly makes up the second leading cause of unintentional deaths in the United States. The leading cause of deaths is road accidents.
Description
A fall refers to an event that makes a person to unintentionally get on the ground in a rest condition. Most of the falls usually take place at home. It is important to note that the old people comprise a section of the community which is in dire need of attention and special care than other members of the society. Within the context of healthcare, falls are dangerous problems of health faced by the elderly individuals in the community. The major cause of falls is aging. Other causes of falls include environmental hazards, visual impairment, mental disorder and painful body parts. Basically, people are normally unable to move from one place to another. The aim of this paper is to suggest a strategic plan which can help alleviate this health issue from the community.
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Statistics
The United Nations classifies the elderly people as those aged 60 years and above. In the U.S.A, falls are the leading cause of morbidity and mortality among the mature individuals. Interestingly, 30% of the eleven million adults who are aged above 65 years are mature adults who fall at least once every in their lifetime ( Alshammari et al., 2018) . The incidence of falls is higher in those elderly members of the community who are aged 80 years and above. For instance, Qatar has a prevalence rate of 34% in terms of falls. 53% of these falls are those individuals who experience recurrent events that incapacitate them physically ( Alshammari et al., 2018) .
Monetary Costs
In the United States of America, the problem of falls among the elderly people is quite disturbing and costly since it entails monetary expenses that heavily affect families. Those who fall cannot participate in any physical activity. They are inactive hence have to get a helper. Therefore, family members are forced to hire house helpers who are paid monthly wages. Moreover, the lack of physical activity weakens the immunity of the body system making the elderly vulnerable to diseases. Consequently, families start spending money in hospitals to treat their loved ones. These costs are some of the monetary losses which are brought about by falls among the elderly.
Strategic Plan
The use of self-management needs to be implemented in communities to counter the issue of falls among the elderly. Currently, the number of people who live with chronic health conditions like heart failure disease as a result of fall is high hence a public health issue both in clinical and economic reasons. Therefore, self-management is quite important in the bid top prevent falls among the elderly. Notably, self-management emphasizes the need for patient responsibility while acting in collaboration with the healthcare providers to keep good health and active bodies (Gardetto, 2011). There are various strategies involved in self-management including strict adherence to the medical and dietary recommendations given by the healthcare practitioners. It also involves decisions related with living a good lifestyle (Clark et al., 2008). There are various lifestyles that do endanger the health of elderly people in the community. It must be noted that elderly individuals are highly delicate and require safe lifestyles for increased survival rate. The concept of self-management also involves educating individuals about ways of identifying personal health challenges and trying to find solutions to illness. It is worth noting that self-management also does show potential as an effective paradigm that cuts across the prevention spectrum through establishment of a pattern for health during early age in life (Grady & Gough, 2014). It also entails offering strategies for mitigation of sickness as well as its control in late life ages.
Self-management is what the individuals could decide, act, improve, and evaluate themselves on their own. Self-management is the ability of the person with a combination of family, community, and healthcare professionals to care and conduct the health and any changes through living with a chronic disease. In most cases, self-management applies when one intends to cope with a chronic health condition (Omisakin & Ncama, 2011). For example, patients with heart failure should be more adapted to their chronic illnesses and more manageable for their lifestyle and decisions according to their needs.
The concept of self-management needs to be studied because it is the only way through which practical ways of applying it in the prevention of falls among the elderly can be discovered. Nurses dealing with the elderly people are in dire need of knowledge related to self-management, which they can pass to individuals so that survival rates among patients may be enhanced. For clinical practitioners and nursing scientists to acquire this necessary knowledge, self-management concept must be studied (Grady & Gough, 2014).
Lack of sufficient self-management knowledge is affecting effectiveness of medical treatments for the elderly people in communities. Paying attention to development of practical interventions in preventing falls among the elderly based on self-management among patients with chronic diseases through research is necessary in the quest of improving treatment outcomes (Thirsk & Clark, 2014).
Conclusion
The issue of falls among the elderly is a quite disturbing and highly taxing one. However, the community has the chance of getting respite from this issue through entrenching self health management among the elderly. It implies that awareness has to be made and the elderly encouraged to take care of their bodies. Actions like engaging in regular physical activity are important and relevant in preventing falls among the elderly.
References
Alshammari, S. A., Alhassan, A. M., Aldawsari, M. A., Bazuhair, F. O., Alotaibi, F. K., Aldakhil, A. A., & Abdulfattah, F. W. (2018). Falls among elderly and its relation with their health problems and surrounding environmental factors in Riyadh. Journal of family & community medicine , 25 (1), 29.
Clark, D. O., Frankel, R. M., Morgan, D. L., Ricketts, G., Bair, M. J., Nyland, K. A., & Callahan, C. M. (2008). The meaning and significance of self-management among socioeconomically vulnerable older adults. The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences , 63 (5), S312-S319.
Gardetto, N. J. (2011). Self-management in heart failure: where have we been and where should we go? Journal of multidisciplinary healthcare , 4 , 39.
Grady, P. A., & Gough, L. L. (2014). Self-management: a comprehensive approach to management of chronic conditions. American Journal of Public Health , 104 (8), e25-e31.
Omisakin, F. D., & Ncama, B. P. (2011). Self, self-care and self-management concepts: implications for self-management education. Educational Research, 2 (12), 1733-1737.
Thirsk, L. M., & Clark, A. M. (2014). What is the ‘self’in chronic disease self-management? International Journal of Nursing Studies, 51 (5), 691-693.
