Managing a Fall Victim as a CNA

How should I manage a fall victim as a CNA?

 

Great question!!  Ok, so if you dont already know,  falling is one of the number one causes of traumatic deaths for elderly people.

Elderly people often have poor equilibrium, poor musculature, and very frail bones.  This leads to quite a dangerous situation.  Really one of the biggest jobs we have as  CNAs is making sure that our patients do not, under any circumstances, fall.

Elderly patients do however tend to fall.  Sometimes it is just inevitable for them to sooner or later fall down.  It happens all the time, even under CNA supervision.

So first off lets discuss what falling down does to our elderly patients.   So elderly patients bones are often times very frail and brittle.  These bones, tend to break easily during a fall.   It is very common to see extremity fractures, spinal fractures, and hip and pelvic fractures.

The first thing we should be aware of is the fact that lots of blood can be lost due to a fracture.   Bones carry a large amount of blood within them, not to mention a fractured bone can tear into tissues and muscles very easily.   So as soon as an elderly person does fall, were going to consider it an emergency.

The fall itself does not usually kill elderly patients, at least not patients under supervision.  It can however, be very dangerous for elderly people to fall alone at home and not be able to get help.    Usually what kills elderly people after they have fallen is the time it takes for them to get back on their feet.

Lets say an elderly person has fallen down and broken his or her hip.  Now they have to lay in bed for a month while the broken bone mends.  During this time what happens is the patients muscles quickly begin to atrophy.  When these muscles begin going away it is very, very difficult to get them back with physical training.   Often times the patient suffers from these falls in a variety of ways including,  loss of independance, loss of confidence, falling paranoia,  and of course inactivity.  At this point our patient is opening his or herself to a variety of different illnesses, and possibly a shorter life because of it.

So obviously the best way to help a patient is to try our best to keep the patient from falling.  Prevention is key.    We can of course help to keep our patients from falling by being attentive and watchful of them while they are walking.  Using handrails appropriately and making sure our patient is safe and secure while sleeping.

 

Treatment for Patient Falls 

For a patient that has fallen these are the steps we should take:

If a patient has fallen, it is an emergency, have another CNA call an ambulance, or if needed call an ambulance yourself.

Unless the patients airway is compromised, or he is for some reason in a dangerous position or environment, DO NOT MOVE the patient.   This patient is considered at danger for spinal fracture, in this case only a doctor will be able to clear them of that possibile injury.  The paramedics will immediately put the patient in spinal precaution upon arrival.

If you do move the patient you are putting the patient at risk of furthering his or her back injury, and putting yourself at risk for law suits.  Be very careful with elderly falls.

Check the patient for any bleeding, and obvious broken bones.  Control any bleeding if possible,  A lot of elderly patients are taking blood thinners due to atrial fibrillation, so controlling any bleeding is a priority.

The best way to control bleeding is putting pressure on the wound with a sterile dressing.

Keep the patient calm, keep the patient from moving, especially from moving his or her head.

 

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