• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.51-58
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• 2021

Purpose: This study is based on the results of previous studies that falls, which is a frequent social problem, causes physical, mental and social health problems in the elderly. In order to identify risk factors for falls in the elderly, this study derives a relationship with oral health and proposes the necessity of oral health care as part of countermeasures to prevent falls in the elderly. Methodology: The final 6,936 people were analysed using the 2018 Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing(KLoSA) survey data, and the analysis was conducted using the multiple logistic and multiple regression analysis to investigate the relationship between Geriatric Oral Health Assessment Index (GOHAI) and falls experience. Findings: As a result of the analysis in this study, the number of falls experiences and whether or not falls were higher in the elderly female group than in the male group. The likelihood of falls experience has been statistically reduced as Geriatric Oral Health Assessment Index increases by one unit.(OR : 0.991) The number of falls has also been statistically reduced as Geriatric Oral Health Assessment Index increase by one unit.(B : -0.001) Practical Implications: The results of this study, which showed that higher Geriatric Oral Health Assessment Index was lower risk of falls, explained by the connection that oral health may affect nutritional intake, which leads to sarcopenia and physical loss, which in turn increases the risk of falls. As a way to solve the fall problem, efforts should be made to improve the oral health of the elderly, and furthermore, the importance of nutrition management thorugh oral health care of the elderly is increasd.

• Journal of The Korea Institute of Healthcare Architecture
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.33-40
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• 2018

Purpose: The main objective of this paper is, to assess environment, care process, and patient-related factors associated with patient falls. The study also aims at identifying various factors that would affect inpatient falls and, therefore, helping both caregivers and designers contribute to better prevent inpatient falls in their own areas of expertise. Methods: A retrospective analysis of inpatient falls that occurred in the unit of General Medicine in the United States has been conducted and environment, care process, patient-related factors associated with those falls have been analyzed at the same time. Results: The study identified several factors associated with inpatient falls. They range from environmental factors to care process- and patient-related factors. Patient visibility and patient accessibility can matter to patient falls and where those falls occur, along with patient days per room, the percentage of patient days with high fall risk patients per room, the percentage of high fall risk patients per room. Implications: The findings of the study can provide design implications that can be incorporated into design process and design decisions to promote fall prevention in inpatient care units. Inpatient falls can be effectively reduced when caregivers and designers work together to understand the complex nature of inpatient falls and the importance of multidisplinary efforts among various experts in the areas of healthcare.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.157-167
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• 2003

Falls are a leading cause of injury, disability and death among people older than 65. Even without injury, falls cause a loss of confidence that results in reduced physical activity, increased dependency and social withdrawal. Fall prevention in the eldery people is a multifaced task that includes both the identification of risk factors and their modification strategies. Fall risk factors have been identified as both intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic factors are those related to the physical and cognitive function of the person. Extrinsic factors are those which are included in the environmental hazards of everyday life. Combinations of interventions aimed at modifying both intrinsic and extrinsic risk factors can result in significant fall prevention in the geriatric population. This article selectively reviews the literature reporting exercise intervention to improve strength, balance and mobility.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.161-171
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• 1998

Balance can be defined as the ability to maintain the body's center of gravity within the base of support with minimal sway. Falls occur frequently in the elderly persons by the physiological change and dysfunction with age. Injuries resulting from falls include soft tissue damage and fractures of the radius, humerus, and femoral neck other consequences of falls include decreased mobility, reduced confidence, long lies (which can give rise to hypothermia, dehydration and pneumonia), and death Risk factors for falls have beau classified as intrinsic (those related to the individual) and extrinsic(those associated with environmental features), Intrinsic factors include decreased strength, visual deficits, vestibular dysfunction, and decreased vibratory sensation in the feet. Improvement of the balance related to the increased probability for fells in the elderly persons and is important for fall preventions and improvement of the living quality ef the elderly persons

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.119-128
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• 2011

Purpose: This study was done to determine the risk factors for recurrent fallers (2+falls) compared to single fallers. Methods: Participants were 104 community-dwelling people 65 yr of age or older. The data were collected from June 1, 2008 to June 30, 2009 using the Residential Assessment Instrument-Home Care. Results: Over the past 90 days, 55.7% of the 104 participants fell once, and 44.2% experienced recurrent falls (2+falls). In comparison of recurrent fallers with single fallers, there were significant differences in scores on the following factors: gender ($X^2$=4.22, p=.040), age ($X^2$=5.74, p=.017), educational level ($X^2$=5.22, p=.022), living arrangements ($X^2$=35.02, p<.001), cardiovascular diseases ($X^2$=17.10, p<.001), hypertension ($X^2$=4.43, p=.035), diabetes mellitus ($X^2$=4.44, p=.035), glaucoma ($X^2$=13.95, p<.001), Minimal Data Set (MDS)-Pain (t=-2.56, p=.012), fear of falling ($X^2$=4.08, p=.034), reduced vision (t=-3.06, p=.003), MDS-activity of daily living (t=3.46, p=.001), MDS-Instrumental Activities of daily living (t=3.24, p=.002), cognition (MDS-Cognition Performance Scale) (t=3.40, p=.001), and 'difficulties entering and leaving the house' ($X^2$=4.53, p=.033). Conclusion: It is important to assess the risk factors for recurrent falls and develop differentiated strategies that will help prevent recurrent falls. Additionally, utilizing a standardized tool, such as RAI-HC, would help health professionals assess multi-variate fall risk factors to facilitate comparisons of different community care settings.

• Korean Journal of Applied Biomechanics
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.249-258
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• 2014

The purpose of this study was to investigate the different patterns of the lower limb between elderly and adult females to reduce the rate of falls. Ten old females(age: $73.1{\pm}2.69yrs$, height: $151.9{\pm}4.82cm$, mass: $57.36{\pm}5.36$) and ten adult females(age: $28\pm}4.76$ yrs, height: $160.6{\pm}6.83cm$, mass: $53.9{\pm}8.44$) were participated in this experiment. The gait motions were captured with Qualisys system and variables were calculated with Visual-3D. The following results were found. The elderly female group showed bigger inclination angle between COM and COP than the adult female group so that the dynamic stability was reduced in walking for the compensation with a bigger stride width. The elderly female group ensure for the necessary forward movement of COM in order to replace the decreased function of ankle and knee joint. If the distance between COM and COP is closer and the energy reduction of a specific joint is reduced, they could prevent the elderly female's falling rate by strengthening of muscles which were related the extension of ankle joint.

• Journal of the Korea Construction Safety Engineering Association
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• s.36
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• pp.73-81
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• 2006

Construction fall accidents have been investigated by many researchers. Construction workers are prone to fall when elevations of the construction site is high. And falls are the most fatal accidents: it can be directly linked to the death. Construction fall accidents might be reduced by predetermining several areas which are highly probable to have fall accidents and by controlling such areas until the completion of the building construction. In this paper, a fall prevention system is suggested which can identify the areas where the focus on fall protection is perhaps most needed from the process characteristics. Main methodologies for this research are summarized as follows: 1. A data base on elements and types of falls is constructed from the data analysis of last 10 years fall accidents history. 2. Guideline is derived by identifying the highly probable areas of fall accidents with respect to the specific construction process. 3. Developed system is verified by applying the system to construction sites. 4. Finally a fall prevention system is suggested by utilizing the fall accidents data.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.7-12
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• 2021

Considering that the aged population increases and the mobility problem is pointed out as a factor that indisposes the quality of life, cognition, and mood, it is important to understand and evaluate the elderly's mobility. Factors that deteriorate mobility in the elderly include physical senility, various health changes including chronic diseases, polypharmacy as well as anticholinergics. Common mobility problems in old age are reduced gait speed, increased gait variability in walking length, careless walking, and frequent falls. Several studies have reported that decreased mobility and deterioration of gait can predict cognitive decline and emotional problems. Aerobic exercise, resistance exercise, and balance exercise are suggested as therapeutic interventions for mobility problems. Active correction for factors that reduce mobility in the elderly and prescribing physical activity can conserve the elderly's quality of life and help improve cognition and mood. There is a need for related research in the future.

• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.945-953
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• 2014

This study aims to develop protective pants to relieve impact from falls and to present basic data for the development. The survey results are as follows; First, 45% of the respondents were in their 60s and 55% of them were in their over 70s and older. Also, 64% of them have fallen once for the past year and 36% of them have fallen twice or more. The older they were, the more there were those who have fallen twice or more. This indicated the older people has experienced more fall accidents again after a initial fall accident. Second, as per accident situations, the survey showed that fall accidents happened the most in the winter and in the afternoon (12-18 pm). Also, it happened on a street mostly and they were wearing sneakers or hiking boots when they got a hurt slipped in a front or side by missing their step in a walk. The injury areas are mostly knee and ankle. They had the bruises or a sprain in their knee and ankle mostly. The rate of bone fracture was 19.5%. Therefore, the protection area to falls in lower body is the knee. But hip and hip joint should be protected with knee as well because those are usually be broken when it is damaged. Third, approximately 80% of those who were hospitalized for treatment had surgery. Patients who had surgery were rather in their over 70s than in their 60s. The older they were, the more serious their fracture was. The period of hospital or outpatient treatment is more than three weeks in many cases. They responded their health got worse after falls. Aftereffects of accidents were physical discomfort, anxiety and medical costs. Falls to the old makes physical damage, psychological damage, which cause reduced physical activity and the increased cost of health care with economic losses. So it results on a negative impact on the life of the old. Fourth, elderly females were rarely aware of impact protective clothing and they have never purchased such clothing. For impact protective pants, the major consideration was suitable design for their body types. They liked casual style with front or side pockets and simple designs without any patterns or decorations. As per pants materials, they responded that they need functionality, activity and elasticity. Among the functional points, insulation of cloths are considered importantly, so the heat reservance of material in the impact protective pants should be considered carefully.

• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.49-54
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• 2008

Background : This study was to reduce incidence of falls by analyzing actual problem and drawing out improvement plan applicable to the clinical practice through operation of the staff nurses-centered fall peer review group. Method : The fall peer review group was composed of 8 nurses having patient nursing experience for over 5 years, and each of fall cases was reviewed and the root cause was analyzed. As a result, it was found that the patients and their families did not fully understandthe content of the education, and the staff nurses did not completely inspect the risk factors of falls and perform immediate intervention when patient's condition changed. Based on the above-mentioned results, improvement activity was conducted for the purposes of consolidating patients education method and supplementing computerized system to support nurses' decision making as well as devices and facilities. Result : As a result of conducting improvement activity in the aspects of education for patients, support of nurse's decision-making, and devices and facilities through operation of the staff nurses-centered fall peer review group, falls decreased by 9.5% compared to before improvement activity. Conclusion : It is concluded that operation of the clinical nurses-centered fall peer review group played a role of promoter to draw out practical and applicable improvement plan to the clinical practice and apply directions of the field-centered, and increased nurses' interest in falls and ultimately, reduced incidence of falls. Therefore the Center will continue to operate the staff nurses-centered peer review group, and recommends participation of nurses who actually take the charge of nursing patients in further analysis of patients' safety accidents.