Assessing a resident who falls

A fractured hip presents with the affected leg shortened and the foot rotated out, toes turned out and of course pain with movement or palpation.

I am a new Nurse. On my first week on the job I had a resident fall out of bed. The first thing I asked him was if he can move his hands or his legs without any pain. Thats important. If they can move their extremities then I would rule out anything broken. I think my resident just was mostly embaressed, kind of hurt his pride. I offered to send him out to the Hospital but he refused. It's their right. Make sure you document everything. How it happened, if you observed it, was there something in the way that made him or her fall, is the resident able to move his extremities, How many people it took to get the resident up and back into chair or bed. Vital signs, and notify his next of kin, and his doctor. All this should be noted in your nurses note and on an incident report which should remain seperate from the patients chart. Oh and most importantly do a head to toe assessment for any signs of injury to the body. Note the location.

I hope I got everything, as I stated before I am a new nurse. Every facility is different and may require extra steps. Mine requires follow-up on falls, and when a resident refuses care, we just continue to monitor.

Dee