Abstract
Falls and fall related injury are a common problem within our older adult population and are associated with an impact on quality of life and functional independence. The first phase for reducing adverse effects from falls is to identify risk factors that can cause or exacerbate the risk of falling and then act to minimise these risk factors.
Method
A retrospective audit was undertaken to review how falls are assessed in a front door frailty service within the emergency department (ED) and acute medical units (AMU). The notes of each patient who had attended following a fall and was assessed by the OPAL team were reviewed. There are NICE guidelines on how to assess falls in older adults and the risk factors identified were used as a benchmark for the audit.
Results
The audit identified that there is a multidisciplinary approach to falls assessments and that the majority of the risk factors were identified on assessment. There were two domains that were not frequently identified on review - footwear and completion of lying and standing blood pressure measurements. Following completion of the audit, teaching was undertaken to the team and the results distributed with production of a crib sheet for staff to aid future falls assessments to ensure all domains are assessed.
Conclusion
Front door frailty teams often review patients who have presented to ED or AMU following a fall. A standardised approach to identification of risk factors across a multi-disciplinary team ensures patients are receiving appropriate management on risk factors to assist in reducing further falls in line with NICE guidance.
Comments
Polypharmacy
Hi there,
Is polypharmacy considered? Our frailty team consider polypharmacy as a huge contributor to falls within our older patients?