Assistant Professor of Nursing Marisa Ferrari leads a team studyng hospital falls

Accidental falls by older adults in the hospital are a major problem: 25% of falls in hospitals cause injuries, with an average cost of $17,500. A team of faculty from the School of Nursing recently published a study in the Journal of Nursing Care Quality about Contributing Factors Associated With Impulsivity-Related Falls in Hospitalized, Older Adults (Volume 25, Pages 320-326). The lead author is Assistant Professor Marisa Ferrari, and the list of contributors includes Associate Professor Barbara Harrison, the Allesee Endowed Chair Ann Whall, and collaborators from William Beaumont Hospital. The team studied seven risk factors: inattention, sedatives, age, gender, day of fall, number or hospital unit transfers, and mobility. Of these, their results indicated that mobility and inattention were the most significant factors underlying impulsively-related falls. Their hope is that by indentifying the important factors, they can ultimately reduce the number of falls.