A STUDY TO ASSESS THE EFFECTIVENESS OF KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTICE OF FALL PREVENTION PROGRAM AMONG BSC NURSING STUDENTS OF SELECTED COLLEGE OF NURSING, TRIVANDRUM DISTRICT

Abstract

Fall is an unexpected event in which the subjects come to rest on the ground floor or lower level. Falls are a major problem in older adults and are reported as the most common patient safety incident occurring in hospitals. Nursing students are educated about patient safety including fall prevention in their basic nursing training. this study was performed to understand nursing students’ knowledge, practice towards fall awareness on fall risk factors and to lay the foundation of proper fall preventive program. The study revealed that, the majority of the subjects in pre-test have 47 (47%) moderate knowledge, 34 (34%) have adequate knowledge and minority 19 (19%) have inadequate knowledge and in Post-test majority 83 (83%) have adequate knowledge and minority 17 (17%) have moderate knowledge. The effectiveness of practice was that majority 58 (58%) have poor level of practice, 34 (34%) have average level of practice and minority 8(8%) have good level of practice and in Post-test majority 86(86%) have good level of practice, 14(14%) have average level of practice. The study findings revealed that structured teaching programme regarding fall prevention in selected BSC Nursing students is effective in improving knowledge and practice of fall prevention. Thestudy also revealed that there is correlation between the improvement of knowledge and practice among BSC Nursing students fall prevention in selected nursing interventions. The study showed that there was significant association between post-test level of knowledge and practice with selected demographic variables. The nurse must know and practice fall prevention strategies to reduce the risk of injury. The structured teaching programme will help to improve the knowledge and practice nursing students and thereby the risk of injury due to falls can be prevented.