Learning to assess the fall risk of older persons with and without Cognitive Decline in clinical nursing education

Introduction: Falls, as a geriatric syndrome, are a complex problem for the health and quality of life of the older persons. There is consensus that risk assessment is an important measure for identifying people at risk of falls and planning preventive measures. The literature review observed that despite advances in knowledge about this phenomenon and solid evidence about preventive measures, implementation remains difficult
Objective: To analyze how students in the nursing degree course learn, during clinical practice in a hospital context, to assess fall risk in older people with and without cognitive decline.
Methods: This was a qualitative study. Focus Group was chosen to answer to the research question: What do nursing students learn about the assessment of fall risk during clinical practice? The participants were 15 students from the 4th year and 2nd semester of the Nursing Bachelor. Qualitative data analysis software (WebQDA®) was used to facilitate organization and increase accuracy.
Results: There is consensus that risk assessment is an important measure for identifying people at risk of falls and planning preventive measures. Three categories emerged associated with learning to assess fall risk in the hospitalized elderly population: valued risk factors, assessing the risk, and learning to manage fall risk in Clinical Practice. 
Conclusions: The findings of this study contribute to the discussion about the need to introduce content into the curricula on fall risk assessment and to work collaboratively with the contexts so that clinical nurses are committed to the multidimensional assessment of falls, and the need to make clear to students how they assess risk, and based on that assessment, how they decide on fall prevention measures.