• Physical Therapy Rehabilitation Science
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.66-77
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• 2022

Objective: This study is a systematic review conducted to analyze the environmental factors that cause falls in the older adult. Design: Systematic review Methods: The study was conducted by searching the Research Information Sharing Service (RISS), Korean studies Information Service System (KISS), and Data Base Periodical Information Academic (DBpia) databases for literature published in South Korea up to July 2020. A total of 12 studies were selected for analysis based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Results: The results of the analysis revealed that all the selected literature were surveys and the study subjects were 65 years of age and above. The sample size ranged from a minimum of 95 subjects to a maximum of 3,278. A total of eight tools were used to measure the environmental factors associated with falls. The prevalence and recurrence of falls increase with age and deterioration of health. Older adult individuals who experience falls encounter difficulties in recovering from impaired physical function and disability; moreover, in severe cases, falls may lead to death. Falls are largely associated with a combination of intrinsic and extrinsic (i.e., environmental) factors. The purpose of this study was to assess potential extrinsic risk factors for falls. Falls occur in indoor environments, such as washrooms, bathrooms and living rooms, and outdoor environments, including roads and stairways, depending on the season, time of day, and use of ambulatory aids. In such environments, falls are mainly caused by slipping and stuttering. Conclusions: Therefore, as the rate of fall is influenced by several factors, extrinsic factors should be improved by developing comprehensive accident prevention programs that address the improvement of environmental risk factors around places of residence to reduce risk factors among the older adult, who, especially, are at a high risk for falls.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.117-124
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• 2018

Purpose: This study was to analyze clinical and epidemiological characteristics of elderly patients who were admitted to the emergency department (ED) due to falls by separating male and female. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the fall patients aged 65 years or older from the data of the in-depth surveillance study of injured patients visit to the ED under the supervision of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) from 2011 to 2016 by separating male and female. Results: A total of 361,588 elderly fall patients were analyzed and, among them, 14,429 (37.3%) were males and 24,208 (62.7%) were females. Male and female showed similar frequency of damage happening season. However, they showed falling accident mostly on winter. The time of injury occurrence is mostly from 12:00 to 18:00 with 4,949 (34.3%) male and 8,564 (35.4%) female. Most falls occurred in daily activities, accounting for 7,614 (52.8%) in males and 14,957 (61.8%) in females, respectively. Unintentional damage accounted for the most part and 7,395 (51.2%) of male and 15,343 (63.4%) of female were injured indoors. Head and neck were the most common site of injuring, with 8,392 (58.2%) in males and 7,851 (32.4%) in females. According to ED examination outcomes, most of the patients were discharged, while the majority of the hospitalized patients were admitted to the general patient room. Conclusions: The elderly falls occurred mostly from 12:00 to 18:00, during winter and to elderly women. Also, they happened unintentionally indoors in everyday life, mostly. Proved clinical, epidemiological characteristics from this research will be used as useful indicator at validity research of development of prevent program of falling accident for elderly people.

• Korean Journal of Occupational Health Nursing
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.106-113
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• 2020

Purpose: This study aimed to analyze industrial accident compensation insurance coverage and industrial accidents among concrete mixer truck drivers. Methods: Original data on industrial accidents from 2012 to 2017 were analyzed through descriptive statistics. Results: Industrial accident compensation insurance coverage was 44.6% in 2017. Most concrete mixer truck drivers were affiliated with small businesses. A total of 61 industrial accidents occurred in 2012, 65 in 2014, and 80 in 2017. The major types of industrial accident were falls, slips, and crushes. Conclusion: Because concrete mixer truck drivers are at high risk for industrial accidents, industrial accident compensation insurance coverage and industrial accident prevention should be strongly enforced.

• Journal of muscle and joint health
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.149-159
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• 2015

Purpose: This study aimed to identify falls and related risks of hospitalized patients in order to provide an baseline data to develop effective nursing intervention programs for fall prevention. Methods: The data on 120 patients who experienced falls from 2010 to 2013 during their hospitalization were collected from the patient' electronic medical records of an university hospital. Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics using SPSS/WIN 20.0. Results: Over 60% of the patients who experienced falls during their hospitalization was 65 years or older, and most of them had hypertension. Majority of the subjects needed help to perform daily activities (64%) and complained of general weakness (49.2%). Prior to the falls, the patients were taking average 2.52 medications to treat hypertension. The Fall accident was mostly frequently occurred in their hospital room (59.2%), or in bed (44.2%). The patients aged 70 years and older were significantly less alert than younger group, and taking more cardiovascular medications. Most fall risk factors were not significantly different for age, gender, and department category. Conclusion: The study findings suggest the need to emphasize the nurses to be more actively aware of fall risk factors and to provide aggressive interventions for preventing falls in hospitalized patients.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.96-101
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• 2010

Purpose: This study was conducted in order to evaluate the epidemiological characteristics of?children with fall-down injuries according to age groups and to analyze the major trauma groups that were treated at the emergency room (ER). Methods: Among 1,222 children under age 6 who were treated at the ER from January 2008 to December 2009, a retrospective study was conducted through examination of medical records. The children were classified by age into 3 groups: infant, toddler, and pre-schooler. In each group, the differences between the causative factors that led to the fall-down injuries were analyzed. Also, ISS (Injury Severity Score) score above 4 was classified as major trauma, and an ISS score 0-1 was classified as a minor trauma. The relationship between major trauma and age group was also analyzed. Results: Through an analysis of child fall-down injuries, men (56.6%), toddler (47.3%), head-related symptoms (72.9%), furniture-related traumas (80.2%), and falls from less than a 1-m height (69.9%) were found to be common factors. Furthermore, in radiological studies, fractures and brain hemorrhages accounted for 16.9% of major traumas, and simple skull fractures were the most common (21.4%). Distributed according to age group, the factors relevant to fall injuries were fall height and head-related symptoms for infants, accident site, fall height and head-related symptoms for toddlers, and accident site for pre-schoolers (p<0.05). Also, headrelated symptoms and fall height were independent factors of major trauma in all age groups. However, major traumas (17.3%) were related to dumped trauma, fall height and accident site (p<0.05). Conclusion: This study was mainly about head-related injuries, and toddler were most common victims. The relevant factors for the major trauma were falling height for infants, accident site and falling height for toddlers, and accident site, falling height for pre-schoolers.

• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.1-15
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• 1999

For the purpose of disclosing estimated annual incidence rate and causative factors of traumatic spinal cord injury and obtaining basic data for the establishment of effective measures to prevent this injury, the medical record of 204 cases of Seoul residents with spinal cord injury which admitted in 46 general hospitals and National rehabilitation center located in Seoul, including Sam Yook Rehabilitation Center and Jung Ang Hospital in Kyungi do and occurred in 1995 were analyzed. The results were as follows: 1) The estimated annual incidence rate of traumatic spinal cord injury in 1995 of Seoul residents was 20.5 per million population. This incidence rate was the highest in the 40th years (34.1), followed by in the 50th years (26.5) and in the 20th years (25.6) in descending order. 2) The incidence rate ratio between male and female was 3.5:1. 3) The leading cause of injury was the highest in traffic accidents (42.2%), followed by falls from elevation (29.4%) and falls on the same level (9.8%). 4) Traffic accident mainly occured from 20th years to 40th years and falls from elevation in 50th years. 5) The level of spinal cord injury was the highest in cervical cord (63.2%), followed by the thoracic cord (21.1%) and lumbosacral cord (15.7%). Traffic accidents mainly caused in cervical cord injury whereas thoracic cord injury and lumbosacral cord injury were caused from falls from elevation. Above theconsiderations in mind, it suggested that in order to prevent traumatic spinal cord injuries, safety education of falls from elevation should be focused on the 20th years and 50th years male, moreover safety education of traffic accidents will be needed in the 30th years and 40th years male.

• Advances in pediatric surgery
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.115-122
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• 2005

Falls from a height are the leading cause of injury and death among urban children. This study describes the incidence, clinical characteristics, and treatment results of children under 15 year of age who fell from a height of more than one meter and were admitted for abdominal injury. The medical records of 585 consecutive patients treated between January 1997 and December 2003 at Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital were analyzed retrospectively. The falling heights were 1 to 31.2 meters, and 28 patients(4.8 %) suffered from blunt abdominal trauma. The male to female ratio was 2.1: 1. The median age of the victims was 5.5 years, and the median height fallen was 3 meters. Fifteen patients (53.6 %) were injured during the summer and seventy-nine percent of the falls occurred between noon and 9 pm. Eighteen (64.3 %) of falls occurred in residential place and 19(67.8 %) of patients arrived at the emergency department within 30 minutes of the accident. Only 16 patients (57.1 %) complained of abdominal pain. Liver injuries were found in 12(42.9 %), spleen injuries in 5(17.9 %), kidney injuries 3(10.7 %), pancreatic injuries in 1(3.6 %) and nonspecific abdominal injuries in 9(32.1 %) cases. Increased SGOT and SGPT were found in 23(82.2 %) and 18(64.3 %) cases. Eleven patients (39.3 %) had associated head injuries. Limb injuries were present in 17.9% and thoracic injuries in 7.1%. Twenty-five patients (89.3 %) recovered without operation. The median length of hospital stay was 6 days (2 -20 days). Despite the absence of abdominal symptoms or shock, falls from a height in children may carry significant intra-abdominal organ injuries. The height falling could not predict the degree of the abdominal injury. For the evaluation of potential abdominal injuries, CT scan should be utilized.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.372-383
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• 2019

The purpose of this study was to investigate the efforts of Knowledge, Attitude and Perceptions of Patient Safety Culture on Fall Prevention Activities in Mental Hospital Nurses. This study is a descriptive research study of 153 nurses working in Busan and Gyeongnam mental health hospitals, the data were collected from April 4 to December 31, 2018. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS/win 24.0 program, which included t-test, ANOVA and multiple regression analysis. As a result, The attitude toward falls differed depending on subject's license or qualifications, the higher the education level. The higher the level of perceptions of patient safety culture, and the higher the work experience, the more prevention activities toward falls. The higher the perception of patient safety culture, the higher the attitude toward falls. The higher the prevention activities toward falls, the higher the attitude of falls and the perceptions of safety culture. As a result of multiple regression analysis of factors affecting Knowledge, Attitude and Perceptions of Patient Safety Culture on Fall Prevention Activities were 12.5%. Therefore, in order to promote fall prevention activities of mental hospital nurses, the knowledge needs to be expanded through continuous education. Education programs should be developed and provided to change attitudes toward falls. and At the hospital organization level, a wide range of support is required, including changes in the overall human and institutional environment for safety.

• Journal of Internet Computing and Services
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.11-17
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• 2017

To the elderly, sudden falls are one of the most frightening accidents. If an accident occurs, a prompt action has to be taken to deal with the situation. Recently, there have been a number of attempts to detect sudden falls using acceleration sensors embedded in the mobile devices, such as smart phones and wrist-bands. However, using the sensor readings only, the detection rate of the falls is around 65%. Ordinary daily activities such as running or jumping could not be well distinguished from the falls. In this paper, we describe our attempts on improving the fall-detection rate. We implemented a wrist-band fall detection module, using a three-axis acceleration sensor. With the pattern matching on the fall signal-strength frequency spectrum, in addition to the conventional signal strength measurement, we could improve the detection rate by 9% point. Furthermore, by applying two wrist-bands in the experiment, we could further improve the detection rate to 82%.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Building Construction
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.383-389
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• 2020

Accidents on construction sites involving fires do not occur as often as accidents involving falls from height or collapses. However, once a fire accident occurs, there is a high risk of a large number of casualties. Fire on construction sites is affected by working conditions and the types of activities the construction workers are engaged in at the sites. This study aims to identify activities and working conditions at construction sites that are vulnerable to fire, and analyse how they correlate with each other and how they affect the causes and consequences of fire accidents at construction sties. I analysed 40 fire accident reports and listed the situations vulnerable to fire at construction sites considering direct causes, activities, and working conditions. The most dangerous combination of fire hazards can be the heating devices used during rest/sleep in the office/cabin/storage during cold weather. The next most hazardous combination can be sparks arising from painting, waterproofing, insulation, plumbing, or welding/melting work in an underground or confined space.