Afraa Talal Barzanji

Ministry of Health, Saudi Arabia

Abstract Title:

Preventive approaches of falls in healthcare settings

Biography:

Dr. Afraa is a community consultant doctor. She is a holder of bachelor degree of medicine and surgery from Taibah University. Then she had her specialization through Saudi Board in community medicine in Riyadh and she was recognized as the best resident among her batch. In 2016, she became a certified professional in healthcare quality which is earned from the National association for Healthcare quality in United States. Many researches and reviews were done by her; and among the domains she is focusing on is prevention and risk factors. She is also a certified peer reviewer by publons academy

Research Interests:

A patient fall as defined by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality is: ''an unplanned descent to the floor with or without injury to the patient''. Patient falls include those caused by factors related to the health conditions of the patient, as well as environmental precursors as having slipping floors. Fall is a sentinel event; and as a domain of patient safety, there should be implementation of preventive approaches of its occurrence. It is a multidisciplinary responsibility, which starts with engineering solutions to have supportive environment as non-slip floors, technological as having bed alarms, and healthcare related as estimation, reporting and care interventions. It is recommended to document risk assessment of admitted patients not later than 24 hours after admission; and having a plan to control recognized factors. Health education of patients about the risk of falls is important. Physiotherapy helps, Ophthalmologists when managing visual impairment also have a role. In addition, otolaryngologist after treating balance disorder can be considered part of the preventive efforts. Fall prevention can be also by having proper treatment of joint disorders which affect gait. Patients on medications that can affect balance and gait need evaluation by a pharmacist to determine if medications adjustment is required. Furthermore, it is crucial to have enhanced intra-hospital care transition, as it was shown by a systematic review that patient falls was among the negative outcomes associated with multiple transfers within the hospital.