Risk Assessment and the Impact of Point of Contact Intervention Following Emergency Department Presentation with a Fall

ABSTRACT

Aim: To determine whether a multifactorial intervention can decrease the frequency of secondary falls in older patients presenting to an emergency department with a fall. Methods: A randomized control design comparing multifactorial follow-up intervention to standard care. Risk assessments included Falls Risk for Older Persons—Community Setting Screening Tool (FROP Com Screen) and the Two Item Screening Tool, which were compared for sensitivity. Results: Eight patients (14%) in the control group and 11 patients (20.8%) in the intervention group experienced falls (p = 0.373). The proportion of those identified as high risk that fell was similar between the FROP Com Screen (17%) and the Two Item Screening Tool (17%). Patients on average waited 35 days in the control group and 40 days in the intervention group for an outpatient appointment. Conclusions: There was no significant benefit of the intervention. Our findings support interdisciplinary collaboration, multifactorial intervention, and risk management for falls prevention.

KEYWORDS:

• Accidental fall
• allied health intervention
• emergency service (hospital)
• frail older adult
• geriatrics

Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the ED Care Coordination Team for assistance with participant recruitment.

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflict of interest. The authors alone were responsible for the content and writing of the article.

Funding

This work was supported by the Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital Research Advisory Committee [2011/12/012].