Falls (aged care)

Chapter 9: Falls

Overview:
Identifies a range of falls‐prevention activities, such as:

• data collection
• consideration of extrinsic and intrinsic risk factors:
• Falls risk-assessment tool
• Environmental falls hazard-assessment tool
• Changing practice
• Communication
• Education

Description:
Falls among older people are common, with one in three people aged over 65 experiencing one or more falls during a 12‐month period. However, recent developments in research and practice indicate that a range of actions can be effective in reducing falls and falls‐related injuries among older people.

Topics:

• Introduction
• Preventable falls
• Data collection
• Extrinsic and intrinsic risk factors
• Falls risk-assessment tool
• Environmental falls hazard-assessment tool
• Changing practice
• Communication
• Education
• Conclusion

Speakers / Authors:

Keith Hill is a physiotherapist with more than 20 years experience in rehabilitation and aged care. Keith’s PhD subject is ‘Balance studies in older people’. He has published numerous papers on this topic. Keith is a senior research fellow at the National Ageing Research Institute and co-director of the falls and balance clinic at the Melbourne Extended care and Rehabilitation Service (Victoria, Australia). He was recently project manager for a successful multifactorial, multidisciplinary falls prevention project in residential aged care.

Catherine Barrett is a doctoral candidate with the School of Nursing at the University of Melbourne (Australia). Catherine has more than 20 years of experience in aged-care nursing - including the management of a residential-care unit and work as an external auditor for the Aged Care Standards and Accreditation Agency. Catherine has worked with the National Ageing Research Institute on several projects related to falls prevention. She is a co-director of Desirable Outcomes Pty Ltd, a business committed to promoting sexual and sensual health for adults in aged care and disability services.

Robyn Smith is an experienced public health researcher, and an aged-care occupational therapist. She currently manages the development of allied health research for Northern Health and was formerly the director of public health at the National Ageing Research Institute (both in Melbourne, Australia). Her main research interests focus on fostering sustainable change and the application of research evidence in health and residential aged-care.

Melissa Lindeman has qualifications in social science, policy studies, and adult education. Before joining the National Ageing Research Institute (NARI,Melbourne, Australia) in 1998, she was employed by the Victorian Department of Human Services in the Aged Care Branch. In her role as a research fellow in NARI’s Public Health Division, she worked on a diverse range of projects many of which had a focus on education and workforce development. She joined the Bachelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education as senior lecturer in allied health in 2003.

Professional Reviews: