Video capture of the circumstances of falls in elderly people residing in long-term care: an observational study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Falls in elderly people are a major health burden, especially in the long-term care environment. Yet little objective evidence is available for how and why falls occur in this population. We aimed to provide such evidence by analysing real-life falls in long-term care captured on video.

Methods

We did this observational study between April 20, 2007, and June 23, 2010, in two long-term care facilities in British Columbia, Canada. Digital video cameras were installed in common areas (dining rooms, lounges, hallways). When a fall occurred, facility staff completed an incident report and contacted our teams so that we could collect video footage. A team reviewed each fall video with a validated questionnaire that probed the cause of imbalance and activity at the time

SUBMITTER: Robinovitch SN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3540102 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature