In Pennsylvania and New Jersey, nursing home fractures from falls account for a disproportionate amount of avoidable injuries. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), more than 35 percent of nursing home injuries that bring patients to emergency rooms are falls, many of which go unreported and are potentially avoidable.
Nursing home neglect plays a part in avoidable nursing home fractures from falls. This can be attributed to several factors:
- Residents in nursing homes are there because they have medical or health conditions that require extra care, supervision, and attention. When nursing homes are understaffed, they cannot properly attend to each resident’s needs; hence, neglect is inevitable.
- Medication, debilitating conditions, and weak bones create a fragility in elderly nursing home residents that require dedicated assistance. When nursing homes fall short of providing substantial caretakers, nursing home fractures from falls are more likely to occur.
- Changes in residents’ conditions that are not properly documented could ultimately create insufficient care. For example, if a resident now needs extra help getting in and out of bed and the appropriate nurse caretakers are not alerted, this could lead to an avoidable nursing home fracture from a fall.
- Improper footwear could lead to an avoidable fall at a nursing home
