The Effects of Footwear on Balance and Confidence in Older Inpatients

• Functional Reach (centimeters) [ Time Frame: Day 1 (at time of single assessment) ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]

  Functional reach (FR):This is a measure of balance routinely performed on rehabilitation wards.

  The patient stands against a wall with one shoulder touching the wall and that arm fully extended horizontally. A mark is made on the wall recording the furthest point they are reaching to. They are then asked to stretch this arm as far forwards as they can without overbalancing/ stepping forwards. Another mark is made recording this maximum stretching distance. The difference between the 2 marks (in cm) is FR.

  
  
• Timed Get-Up-And-Go (seconds) [ Time Frame: Day 1 (at time of single assessment) ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  Timed Get-Up-And-Go (TUG):- This is a measure of mobility that is recommended in guidelines for General Practitioners and hospital clinicians to perform as part of a simple falls risk assessment. The patient is timed on how long (IN SECONDS)it takes them to rise from a standard arm chair, walk to a line on the floor approx 10 feet away from chair, turn and return to the chair and sit back down.
  
  
• The 4-point bedside balance score (0-4) [ Time Frame: Day 1 (at time of single assessment) ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  The 4-point bedside balance score:- This also assesses participants' balance. The patient's ability to stand with feet together, then with one foot slightly in front of the other (ie. standing partially heel to toe), followed by standing with one foot directly in front of the other (ie. standing fully heel to toe) and then standing on one leg is recorded. Increasing points are scored for each movement completed successfully. If it is clear that a patient cannot complete a particular movement, then the next level up in difficulty is not attempted.
  
  
• Short Falls Efficiency Scale - International Questionnaire (score 7-28 points) [ Time Frame: Day 1 (at time of single assessment) ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  Short Falls Efficiency Scale - International (Short FES-I questionnaire) The patient will then be asked questions from the Short FES-I questionnaire. This asks the patient how concerned they would be about falling in the two footwear types in seven different situations. This is important to assess the influence footwear has on confidence.
  
  

• Incidence of falls during inpatient hospital stay [ Time Frame: Variable - duration of hospital admission ] [ Designated as safety issue: Yes ]
  Any falls occurring during the participant's hospital stay will be recorded along with information on footwear worn at time of fall. This information can be accessed through NHS DATIX computerised incident reporting system.
  
  

Footwear is known to be one of many recognised significant risk factors for falls, presumably by affecting balance and gait pattern. However, little is known regarding the best footwear for hospital inpatients in whom approximately 40% of older persons fall during their hospital admission. Patients admitted to hospital without their own footwear (slippers or shoes) are routinely given foam slippers referred to as pillow paws (PPs). There are concerns that these PPs may contribute to falls as they are often ill fitting (come in a very limited size range) and or are flimsy offering little foot and ankle support. Hence Medicine for the Elderly consultant and registrars designed this study to gain information on differences in balance, mobility and confidence when patients are wearing different footwear types. As a secondary outcome, falls data will also be collected to see whether there is any association between footwear types and inpatient falls incidence.

The aim is to compare pillow paws (PPs) with sturdy outdoor footwear or sturdy slippers. In this way we hope to gain information on which footwear type is most beneficial to hospital inpatients. A recent similar study infers that sturdy outdoor footwear benefits outpatients, but it is not clear whether the same applies to a hospital inpatient population whom are often frailer with greater co-morbidities (physical and mental) and a higher falls risk.