Falls Management Program Aims To Improve Care of Elderly Patients

According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, falls are common among residents of nursing facilities and often have serious health consequences, especially for frail elderly patients. The resulting injuries also are a major reason for lawsuits against these facilities and their staff members. Family physicians who provide care for elderly patients, whether as medical directors of nursing homes or in ambulatory care practices, have a stake in reducing the incidence of falls and their sequelae.

Many nursing centers and medical practices with large elderly patient bases have falls management programs in place, says AHRQ. For those that don’t have such programs or that wish to enhance their performance in this area, the Emory University Division of Geriatric Medicine and Center for Health in Aging, Atlanta, offers the Falls Management Program: A Quality Improvement Initiative for Nursing Facilities. The program was developed and supported by AHRQ.

The program guide (PDF file: 152 pages / 7360 KB. More about PDFs. discusses the causes of falls and adverse consequences of falls for both residents and facilities, including reduced quality of life and increased paperwork and levels of care. The guide also addresses the importance of developing a "falls team" to devise solutions and interventions to falls-related problems.

Monitoring the response to a fall can help minimize the risk of future falls, and the falls management program suggests an eight-step response, including investigating circumstances surrounding a fall, recording the response and implementing intervention within 24 hours.

This information and more, including a fact guide on falls, are included in the program, which also incorporates standardized care using recognized clinical guidelines and a systems approach to care. Users can access these tools online.