Nursing students' experience with fall risk assessment in older adults

The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of nursing students regarding barriers and facilitators to integrating falls risk evaluation and management into practice as well as effective strategies for learning falls prevention. The qualitative research method of thematic analysis was adopted to collect data through semi-structured interviews with senior nursing students. Open and axial coding was used to analyze the data and those with greatest support generated final categories. Thematic analysis identified five central themes (learning to do a fall risk assessment, addressing health beliefs of older adults, barriers to fall assessment, and overcoming barriers) that describe nursing student perceptions of incorporating fall prevention into practice. Results of this study indicate that an online program enhanced with opportunity for hands-on practice provides an effective strategy for learning fall prevention that can be incorporated into nursing practice. Further research is needed to understand how to overcome barriers to integrating fall prevention into practice.