# Preventing Falls in the Elderly: An EMS Story

About This Podcast

The risk of falls increases as we age. Unfortunately, so does the risk of injury, morbidity, and mortality following a fall. Falls risk is considered a geriatric syndrome, with multi-factorial causes. Falls are a the #1 cause of trauma-related mortality in older adults, and a major cause of ED visits, hospital admissions, and admission to nursing facilities. Often, a patient at high risk for falls is not identified until after they have suffered an injury. Orange County EMS developed a system to help identify patients who were at high risk for falls, perform a comprehensive home visit, and connect those individuals with appropriate services to help reduce the rate of future falls and help those patients maintain their independence and functionality in their home environment.

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https://youtu.be/Ik_nHDJIH2Q

Next, listen to New Geriatric ED Accreditation – and why you should care with Dr. Chris Carpenter.

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References

The MRC CRASH Trial Collaborators. Predicting outcome after traumatic brain injury: practical prognostic models based on large cohort of international patients. BMJ 2008 Online calculator

Tinetti ME, Inouye SK, Gill TM, et al. Shared risk factors for falls, incontinence, and functional dependence. Unifying the approach to geriatric syndromes. JAMA 1995;273(3):1348–1353. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7715059

Haentjens P, Magaziner J, Colon-Emeric CS, et al. Meta-analysis: Excess mortality after hip fracture among older women and men. Ann Intern Med. 2010;152(6):380-390 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20231569

Peck et al. Death after discharge: predictors of mortality in older brain injured patients. J Trauma Acute Care Surg 77;6, 2014 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25248061

CDC TBI facts and stats http://www.cdc.gov/traumaticbraininjury/index.html

National Council on Aging Fall Prevention Facts and Statistics https://www.ncoa.org/news/resources-for-reporters/get-the-facts/falls-prevention-facts/

Falls in Older Persons: Risk Factors and Prevention.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK235613/

Zia et al. Polypharmacy and falls in older people: Balancing evidence-based medicine against falls risk. Postgrad Med  2015127 (3) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25539567

AHRQ Statistical Brief #268: Outpatient prescription anticoagulants utilization and expenditures for the US civilian noninstitutionalized population age 18 and older, 2007

This podcast uses sounds from freesound.org by Jobro and HerbertBoland.

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