Cost-effectiveness of Morse Fall Scale assessment in fall prevention care in hospitalized patients / 中南大学学报(医学版)

OBJECTIVES@#To analyze the cost-effectiveness of the Morse Fall Scale by clinical big data for nurses in the prevention of falls in hospitalized patients.@*METHODS@#A total of 59 358 hospitalized patients, who came from the Third Xiangya Hospital of Central South University in 1 year before nurses were trained by the Morse Fall Scale, served as a control, including 26 862 males and 32 496 females. While the 66 203 hospitalized patients served as an observation group in 1 year after nurses were trained by the Morse Fall Scale, including 29 881 males and 36 322 females. The time spent by clinical nurses in the fall-risk assessment and the fall number were recorded in the 2 groups, and the relationship was analyzed between the Morse Fall Scale assessment and the clinical ending along with the labor cost of nursing. The cost-effectiveness was analyzed. In addition, the incidence of fall in the observation group was compared between the falling high-risk patients and the non-high-risk patients.@*RESULTS@#The Morse Fall Scale showed that the incidences of fall in the observation group and the control group were 3.39/100 000 and 3.82/100 000,respectively, there was no significant difference between the 2 groups (@*CONCLUSIONS@#The evaluation of the Morse Fall Scale has a certain effect, but it is limited in the prevention of falls in adult hospitalized patients, and the cost-effectiveness analysis is not good. It is recommended to implement the intervention measures for high-risk patients after the assessment, which may improve the management level and efficiency of fall prevention.

Is There Relationship between Brain Atrophy and Higher Incidence of Hip Fracture in Old Age?: A Preliminary Study

PURPOSE: The studies on the correlation between incidence of fall and brain atrophy have been going on to find out the cause of fall and its prevention. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between incidence of hip fracture and brain volume, measured by magnetic resonance image. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 14 subjects with similar conditions (age, height, weight, and past history) were selected for this study. Fracture group (FG) was consisted of 5 subjects with intertrochanteric fracture. Control group (CG) had 9 subjects without intertrochanteric fracture. MRI-based brain volumetry was done in FG and CG with imaging software (V-works, CyberMed Co., Korea). Total brain (tBV), absolute cerebellar volumes (aCV) and relative cerebellar volumes (rCV) were compared between two groups. Student t-test was used to statistically analyze the results. RESULTS: In FG, average tBV, aCV and rCV were 1034.676+/-38.80, 108.648+/-76.80 and 10.50+/-0.72 cm3, respectively. In CG, average tBV, aCV and rCV were found to be 1106.459+/-89.15, 114.899+/-98.06 and 10.39+/-0.53 cm3, respectively, having no statistically significant difference (p>0.05). CONCLUSION: There was no significant difference between the fracture and control groups. Patients with neurologic disease such as cerebellar ataxia definitely have high incidence of fall that causes fractures and have brain changes as well. However, FG without neurologic disease did not have brain volume change. We consider that high risk of fall with hip fracture might decrease brain function which is not obvious to pickup on MRI.