Effect of antipsychotic drugs and orthostatic hypotension on the risk of falling in schizophrenic patients.

Abstract

Background: Background: Management of schizophrenia using psychopharmaceuticals requires a long-term treatment. The use of antipsychotic drugs can cause the occurrence of orthostatic hypotension, which leads to the risk of falling in patients. The aim of this study is to determine the effect of the use of antipsychotic drugs and orthostatic hypotension on the risk of falling in schizophrenic patients.Design and Methods: This study used a descriptive design with 53 respondents. Data were analyzed using the contingency coefficient correlation and Spearman Rank test methods.Results: The results of the first study showed no positive effect between the use of antipsychotics on orthostatic hypotension in schizophrenic patients. In addition, a contingency coefficient correlation (C) of 0.199 and p-value of 0.335 (p>0.05) was obtained. The results of the second study showed that there was a significant positive effect between orthostatic hypotension on the risk of falling in schizophrenic patients with a value of r = 0.483 and a pvalue of 0.000 (p0.001).Conclusion: It was suggested that the development of this study’s result is needed for further research in dealing with the incidence of orthostatic hypotension in order to prevent or reduce the risk of falling in schizophrenic patients.Significance for public healthNurses should know how to measure blood pressure in order to determine the incidence of orthostatic hypotension. Nurses have an important role to play in preventing the risk of falling in patients. This is used as an indicator in achieving the quality of patient safety and in determining the quality of services in the hospital. This study describes the effect of the use of antipsychotic drugs and orthostatic hypotension on the risk of falls in schizophrenic patients in Dr. H. Marzoeki Mahdi Hospital Bogor.