社區老年人因跌倒入急診之評估處置

Assessment and Management of Community-dwelling Elderly Fallers Treated at Emergency Department

吳錦蓉(Chin-Jung Wu) ； 施欣怡(Shin-I Shih) ； 呂育陞(Yu-Sheng Lu) ； 張家銘(Chia-Ming Chang)

《台灣老年醫學暨老年學雜誌》 7卷1期 (2012/03) Pp. 1-19

https://doi.org/10.29461/TGG.201203.0001

摘要

國民健康局指出，2005年台灣大於65歲的社區老年人在過去一年的跌倒發生率為20.5%，其中37%為反覆跌倒。跌倒可能造成生理及心理的傷害之外，間接也可能造成失能、降低生活品質及帶來死亡威脅，因此醫療人員對於老年跌倒評估及處置的認知和執行程度，都可能影響跌倒老年人的預後和反覆跌倒的發生。研究顯示多數社區老年人在跌倒後四十八小時內會因跌倒傷害入急診尋求治療，所以找出其跌倒危險因子，在急診可能是最佳的評估場所。因此，本文將以社區老年人跌倒入急診求治的角度，經由文獻回顧，瞭解常用之跌倒評估工具及處置過程，探討國內外醫療人員的老年跌倒評估概念是否足夠，且是否落實提供老年人跌倒的處置與評估，並依目前的執行現況提出可改進之建議。

關鍵字

社區老年人 ； 跌倒評估 ； 醫療人員

並列摘要

In Taiwan, the incidence rate of falls in community dwellers aged 65 years and older was 20.5% in 2005, and 37% of them were recurrent fallers. In addition to causing physical and psychological injuries, falls also indirectly lead to disability, affect quality of life, and increase the risk of death. Clear perception and effective implementation of assessment and management of elderly fallers by medical staff can be expected to improve prognosis and reduce the incidence of recurrent falls. Most elderly patients will be sent to the emergency department (ED) for treatment within 48 hours after a fall-related injury; ED is thus a crucial unit for the assessment and prevention of falls. This article aims to review the literature of fall assessment and management process among community-dwelling elderly fallers in ED and to examine whether the awareness of fall assessment is adequate among medical professionals and whether the assessment tools are practical to use. Further recommendations for improvement are proposed according the current implementation status.

並列關鍵字

community-dwelling elderly ； falls assessment ； medical professionals