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Objective: to understand the incidence of falls in nursing home residents over 65-year-old, and to establish their profile, as well as those places where more falls occur, and their causes and consequences.
Method: transversal and retrospective descriptive study of falls occurred from July, 1st to December, 31st, 2012. The following variables were collected: gender, age, Barthel Index, conditions and medications taken which caused the falls, place and consequences, as well as use of technical aids for ambulation.
Results: during the period of the study, 361 patients had been admitted to nursing homes; 93 out of these suffered falls, which indicates a cumulative incidence of 25.7%. 202 falls occurred, with a mean 2.16 per patient (SD= 1.85 falls). The mean age was 87 years, and the Barthel Index mean was 30.75 scores (SD= 25.8 scores); 48.4% of patients who suffered falls presented a high level of dependency. The highest number of falls occurred in their rooms. A 26.9% suffered repetition falls. A 76,23% of falls presented non-evident lesions; a 4% of lesions were hip fractures. The highest number of falls occurred during the morning shift and in the patient�s room. A 26.9% of patients with falls suffered these in a repeated way.
Conclusions: the registry is useful to understand the profile of the hospitalized patient who suffers falls, and to adopt the adequate prevention measures
