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Home > For Healthcare Providers
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For Healthcare Providers
Hamilton County Fall Prevention Task Force |
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 As a healthcare provider, your patients trust and depend on you to treat their health conditions as well as to help prevent them. Familiarizing yourself with the factors that put your patients at risk for falling will help you to identify patients at risk for falling and prescribe a program that is tailored to their needs.
Falling is often the result of many complex and interconnected risk factors. Risk factors for falling can be internal or external. |
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Risk Factors6 |
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Internal
Risk Factors |
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Considerations |
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Cardiovascular |
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Dysrhythmias |
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Neuromuscular |
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Lower-extremity weakness, loss of movement, functional decline, hypotension, CVA, Parkinson's, stroke, neurological disorders, seizure disorder, syncope, unsteady gait, chronic/acute conditions |
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Orthopedic |
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Joint pain, arthritis, hip fracture, limb amputation, osteoporosis, foot disabilities |
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Perceptual |
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Impaired hearing/vision, somatosensory deficits/neuropathies, dizziness/vertigo |
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Psychiatric or cognitive |
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Delirium, cognitive decline, dementia, Alzheimer's disease, depression, wandering, confusion/disorientation, fear of falling |
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Medication side effects |
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Hypotension, muscle rigidity, impaired balance, extrapyramidal symptoms (tremors, uncontrolled movements), decreased alertness |
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External
Risk Factors |
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Medications |
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Anti-hypertensives, diuretics, laxatives, anti-psychotic agents, antihistamines, tranquilizers, narcotics, hypnotics, H-2 blockers, proton pump inhibitors, anti-diabetic agents, anti-coagulants, aspirin and other non-steroidal anti-inflammatories |
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Appliances and devices |
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Pacemaker, assistive devices, restraints, poorly fitting wheelchair |
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Environmental hazards |
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Glare, poor lighting, slippery floors, uneven surfaces, foreign objects, patterned carpets, reaching, incontinence, crowded area |
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Other |
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Suboptimal care, fall in last 30 days, multiple diagnosis, history of falls, sleep disorders |
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Reducing
falls in older adults often require multifaceted
interventions in order to be successful.7
Additionally, a program should also be tailored
to the patients' needs because risk factors vary
among patients.
Prior to prescribing a fall prevention program, it is recommended that healthcare professionals complete a falls assessment on their patient.8 Please refer to the Tools page to access resources commonly used to aid with a fall risk assessment. Additionally, the Guideline for the Prevention of Falls in Older Persons, published by the American Geriatrics Society is useful resource for healthcare providers. |
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Recommended Intervention Strategies1,9
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Perform a falls risk assessment on patients annually. |
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Recommend patients begin an exercise and strength training program. |
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Review medication and side effects with patients. |
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Recommend patients modify their home environment and personal risk factors. |
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Counsel patients about risk factors for falling and how to reduce their risk. |
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Some patients may benefit from protective devices (hip pads), which can be used to prevent hip fractures if a person does fall (be aware that hip pads are often associated with low compliance rates among patients). |
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Remind patients that additional calcium and vitamin D intake (via dairy or supplements) is important to prevent bone loss or reduce fracture risk. |
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Referrals to specialists (Physical Therapists, Occupational Therapists, etc.) if necessary. |
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Other Interventions to Reduce the Risk
of Falls in the Elderly11 |
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Risk Factors |
Considerations |
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Postural hypotension:
a drop in systolic blood pressure of >20mmHg or <90mmHg |
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Behavioral recommendations such as ankle pumps or hand clenching and elevation of the head on the bed |
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Decrease dosage of a medication that may contribute to hypotension: if necessary, discontinuation of the drug or substitution of another medication |
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Pressure stockings |
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If indicated, fludrocortisone (Florinef), in a dosage of 0.1mg two or three times daily to increase blood pressure. If indicated, midodrine (ProAmatine), in a dosage of 2.5 to 5mg three times daily to increase vascular tone and blood pressure |
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Use of a benzodiazepine or other sedative-hypnotic drug |
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Education about appropriate use of sedative-hypnotic drugs |
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Nonpharmacologic treatment of sleep problems, such as sleep restriction |
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Tapering and discontinuing of medications |
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Use of four or more prescription medications |
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Environmental hazards or falling or tripping |
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Home safety assessment with appropriate changes |
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Any impairment in gait |
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Any impairment in balance or transfer skills |
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Balance exercises and training in transfer skills, if indicated |
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Environmental alterations, such as installation of grab bars or raised toilet seats |
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Impairment in leg or arm muscle strength or range of motion (hip, ankle, knee, shoulder, hand or elbow) |
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Exercises with resistive bands, putty resistance training two or three times a week, with resistance increased when the patient is able to complete 10 repetitions through the full range of motion |
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Special Considerations for Emergency Department (ED) Personnel and EMTs
Many senior adults do not have a medical home and rely on ED personnel and EMTs as their first line of defense after a fall. This provides a unique opportunity to provide counseling and preventive services to senior adults who otherwise may not receive information about fall prevention. Listed below are simple steps ED personnel and EMTs can take to help prevent falling in senior adults.10
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Make written fall prevention information available to your patients. Patient education via written advice is found to have a positive effect on patient recall and behavior change. Furthermore, directly providing this information to each patient who suffers a fall or is at risk for a fall is an effective way to manage time constraints often seen in the ED or while responding to 911 calls. It is also a good way to reinforce what was said to the patient about fall prevention. |
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Perform a Falls
Risk Assessment on the Patient. It is
important to identify as many senior adults
who are at risk for falling as possible
so they can receive appropriate follow up
care. The U.S. Preventive Services Task
Force recommends fall screenings to take
place in the ED; doing so significantly
reduced the risk of falls among senior adults
screened in the ED. |
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Make referrals
for in-home care and for specialty physician
care. Falls are most likely to happen
at home and it is important to reduce those
hazards. Additionally appropriate referrals
to specialists (physical therapists, occupational
therapists, optometrists, neurologists,
etc.) are an effective way of reducing falls
in ED patients and patients who have called
the paramedics. |
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