Celebrating Scholarship and Creativity Day (2018-)
Document Type
Paper
Publication Date
4-24-2020
Advisor
Jennifer Peterson
Abstract
Falls are a continuous problem in long-term care facilities. Elderly people are at an increased risk of falling because of age related deterioration, changes in mental health status, neurological problems, polypharmacy, changes in vision and hearing, musculoskeletal problems or environmental factors. Although many facilities advocate for fall prevention, falls are still the number one cause of accidental death in older people. Over the past several months, a long-term care facility has noticed that a majority of falls happen on the dementia unit around the time of shift change (1900-2100). The goal of this quality improvement project was to decrease the number of falls on the dementia unit at this specific health care facility by decreasing agitation and restlessness before bedtime through relaxing music. A literature review has shown that increases in agitation among residents has been linked to increased falls and that music therapy has been shown to decrease agitation. The aim of this study is to determine if music therapy played from 1900-2100 will decrease the agitation and restlessness of the dementia residents which will then decrease the number of falls on the unit. To measure the effect of music therapy, the number of falls before and after implementation will be compared over a three week period.
Recommended Citation
Rannells, Natalie; Thorsten, Kayla; Leblanc, Riley; Kuhlmann, Kalli; O'Hern, Casey; and Marolt, Jessica, "Decreasing Falls Through Music Therapy in a Long-Term Care Facility" (2020). Celebrating Scholarship and Creativity Day (2018-). 124.
https://digitalcommons.csbsju.edu/ur_cscday/124