Extraction and Analysis of Risk Elements for Korean Homecare Patients with Senile Dementia

The purpose of this study is to provide information for the protection of Korean homecare patients with senile dementia by investigating accident cases using a survey. With the survey of accident cases, the caregivers of 55 Korean homecare patients with senile dementia (75.9 ± 7.0 years) were administered the short form of the Samsung Dementia Questionnaire (S-SDQ) and an activities of daily living (ADL) test. Twelve risk elements were extracted. The order of frequency of occurrence from highest to lowest was "egress," "fall," "violence," "collision," "gas accident," "slip," "faucet misuse," "overeating," "drop," "discharge," "weird eating," and "self-injury." The percentage of risk elements resulting in physical harm was 40.1% across all risk elements. The risk elements resulting in the most physical harm were "fall," "collision," "slip," and "drop," respectively. Regarding the location of occurrence of risk elements, risk elements resulting in physical harm showed no significant differences between indoors and outdoors. Some risk elements, such as "egress," "fall," and "gas accident" happened concurrently with more than four other elements, while "collision," "drop," and "violence" happened together with more than two other elements. "Slip" happened significantly more often in the low ADL score group, while "gas accident" happened significantly more often in the high ADL score group. This study provides basic information about monitoring factors to protect senior homecare patients with senile dementia.