Study on the Knowledge and Attitudes of Falls and Awareness of Fall Risk Factors Among Nursing Students

摘要

The purpose of this study was to investigate the nursing student's knowledge of falls, attitudes on falls, and awareness of in-patient fall risk factors. The subjects were 404 nursing students from four universities in Chungbuk, Korea. Data were collected from January to March, 2013 using structured questionnaires which explored students' knowledge about falls, attitudes on falls, and awareness of fall risk factors. Then the data were analysed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation and t-test with SPSS/WIN 17.0 program. The average value of the nursing students' attitude on falls was 3.86 (1-5 scale). The average value of the subjects' knowledge on falls was 12.86 out of 15 points in total. In conclusion, fall prevention education programs should be developed and provided to nursing students to ensure accurate knowledge and positive attitudes on falls. In addition to this, nursing students should be encouraged to use fall risk tools so as to assess potential fall risk for in-patients during practice at hospitals.