OT and Falls Prevention

Falls are a complex problem.

This makes preventing them a perfect target for our OT skillset.

This week we are looking at an article that explores “the state of the science” on preventing falls in hospitalized patients. The authors walk us through:

• The scope of the problem

• The science (or lack thereof) supporting different interventions

While many of the interventions sound simple (like gripper socks and alarms), the article we review in this 1-hour course reminds us that nothing is simple in creating truly effective fall prevention initiatives.

To discuss what this research looks like in practice, we are excited to welcome to the podcast Pooja A. Patel. In addition to being a certified fall prevention specialist, Pooja served as a fall champion at her hospital, and has a wealth of knowledge and experience about being involved in hospital wide quality initiative. Whether you are looking to up your game as an individual therapist or as part of a quality team at your facility, this is a great conversation for you!

1. You will be able to identify acute care fall prevention strategies that are lacking in evidence.

2. You will be able to recognize acute care fall prevention strategies that have the most research to support them.

• Intro

• Breakdown and analysis of journal article

  • Introduction to falls in acute care

  • Who pays for these falls?

  • What is being done?

  • What was the intent of this paper?

  • Study designs in fall prevention

  • The evidence behind individual fall prevention strategies

  • Multifactorial Interventions

  • Author Summary

  • Takeaways for OT practitioners

• Discussion on practical implications for OTs (with Pooja Patel)

  1. Can you tell me how you found OT?

  2. How did your interest in fall prevention begin?

  3. Would you tell us about being the Fall and Mobility Champion at Northwestern?

  4. What were your initial impressions of the article?

  5. Do you use any fall prevention screens/assessments? And, do you debrief each fall?

  6. I loved the footwear recommendation. How can we in the hospital system be simulating what the patient is accustomed to at home?

  7. Are there new fall prevention technologies you are aware of that weren’t mentioned in the article?

  8. I wish the article had touched on staff education and caregiver education. How big of a role do you think these play in fall prevention?

  9. For OTs who want to learn more about fall prevention, what resources do you recommend?

Primary

• Preventing falls in hospitalized patients

Additional

• Interventions for preventing falls in older people in care facilities and Hospitals

• Interventions to reduce falls in hospitals: A systematic review and meta-analysis

It is the policy of OT Potential to disclose any financial and non-financial interest the provider or instructor may have in a product or service mentioned during an activity. This is to ensure that the audience is made aware of any bias of the speaker.

OT Potential pays guest speakers an honorarium for their participation, either directly or to an institution of the speaker's choosing at their request. We invite guests whose expertise often comes from practices, programs, or building products in their field. Where a speaker has a financial interest in the subject of a course, we disclose it below so you can weigh it for yourself.

OT Potential's interest in this topic: We have no financial stake in this topic.

Speaker interests: Pooja A. Patel has no financial interest in this topic to disclose.