Falls In Older Persons

The WHO Falls Prevention for Active Ageing model provides an action plan for making progress in reducing the prevalence of falls in the older adult population. By building on the three pillars of falls prevention, the model proposes specific strategies for: 1. Building awareness of the importance of falls prevention and treatment; 2. Improving the assessment of individual, environmental, and societal factors that increase the likelihood of falls; and 3. For facilitating the design and implementation of culturally appropriate, evidence-based interventions that will significantly reduce the number of falls among older persons. The model provides strategies and solutions that will require the engagement of multiple sectors of society. It is dependent on and consistent with the vision articulated in the WHO Active Ageing Policy Framework. Although not all of the awareness, assessment, and intervention strategies identified in the model apply equally well in all regions of the world, there are significant evidence-based strategies that can be effectively implemented in all regions and cultures. The degree to which progress will be made depends on to the success in integrating falls prevention strategies into the overall health and social care agendas globally. In order to do this effectively, it is necessary to identify and implement culturally appropriate, evidence-based policies and procedures. This requires multi-sectoral, collaborations, strong commitment to public and professional education, interaction based on evidence drawn from a variety of traditional, complementary, and alternative sources. Although the understanding of the evidence-base is growing, there is much that is not yet understood. Thus, there is an urgent need for continued research in all areas of falls prevention and treatment in order to better understand the scope of the problem worldwide. In particular, more evidence of the cost-effectiveness of interconnections is needed to develop strategies that are most likely to be effective in specific setting and population sub-groups.

Despite of the enormous efforts of researchers and clinicians to understand the pathophysiology of falls in older adults and establish preventive treatments, there is still a significant gap in our understanding and treating of this challenging syndrome, particularly when we focus in cognitively impaired older adults. Falls in older adults are a very common yet complex medical event, being the fifth leading cause of death and a main cause of insidious disability and nursing home placement in our world aging population. Importantly, falls in the cognitively impaired double the prevalence of the cognitively normal, affecting up of 60% of older adults with low cognition and increasing the risk of injuries. The past decade has witnessed an explosion of new knowledge in the role of cognitive processes into the falls mechanisms. This was also accompanied with clinical trials assessing the effect of improving cognition via pharmacological and non-pharmacologic approaches to prevent falls and related injuries. Unfortunately, this revolution in emerging interventions left a gap between clinician-scientists and researchers at academic centers where the new data had been generated and the practitioners who care for cognitively impaired patients with falls. Most advances are published in specialty journals of geriatric medicine, neurology, and rehabilitation. The aim of this book is to reduce this gap and to provide practical tools for fall prevention in cognitively impaired populations. The proposed book is designed to present a comprehensive and state-of the-art update that covers the pathophysiology, epidemiology, and clinical presentation of falls in cognitively impaired older adults. We additionally aim to reduce the knowledge gap in the association between cognitive processes and falls for practitioners from a translational perspective: from research evidence to clinical approach. We will address gaps and areas of uncertainty but also we will provide practical evidence-based guidelines for the assessment, approach, and treatment of falls in the cognitively impaired populations. This book is a unique contribution to the field. Existing textbooks on fall prevention focus in global approaches and only tangentially address the cognitive component of falls and not purposely address special populations and/or settings as residential care and nursing homes. Due to the expected increase of proportion of older adults with cognitive and mobility impairments, this book is also valuable for the whole spectrum of the health care of the elderly. By including a transdisciplinary perspective from geriatric medicine, rehabilitation and physiotherapy medicine, cognitive neurology, and public health, this book will provide a practical and useful resource with wide applicability in falls assessment and prevention.

"In both hospitals and long-term care facilities it's the older patients and residents who are most prone to falling and most vulnerable to serious injury from a fall. Staff must constantly be on the alert for hazardous situations and know how to deal with falls. This easy-to-read guide provides just the right amount of information needed by health care staff to prevent and manage this common problem among older adults." "This book presents a wealth of practical recommendations, modifications, equipment, and resources that will improve the health and safety of older adult patients and long-term care residents."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Covering epidemiology, evidence-based risk assessment and falls-prevention strategies, this book will be invaluable to all involved with health care of the elderly.

4. EVIDENCE-BASED BEST PREACTICES FOR THE PREVENTION OF FALLS: 4.1 Existing practice guidelines ; 4.2 Best practices for fall prevention ; 4.3 Selecting appropriate approaches according to setting; 4.4 Recovery from a fall ;4.5 Factors influencing client compliance in fall prevention . 5. SUPPORTING FALL PREVENTION STRATEGIES. 6. THE WAY FORWARD; References; List of tables and figures; Appendix A: Risk factors for falls and fall-related ; Appendix B: List of the Public Health Agency of Canada's resources on seniors' falls.

The leading introductory textbook on geriatrics – completely updated and revised Essentials of Clinical Geriatrics is an engagingly written, up-to-date introductory guide to the core topics in geriatric medicine. Since 1984, its goal has remained unchanged: to help clinicians do a better job of caring for their older patients. You will find thorough and authoritative coverage of all the important issues in geriatrics, along with concise, practical guidance on the diagnosis and treatment of the diseases and disorders most commonly encountered in an elderly patient. Presented in full-color, this classic features a strong focus on the field’s must-know concepts, from the nature of clinical aging to differential diagnosis of important geriatric syndromes to drug therapy and health services. The Eighth Edition has been completely revised to provide the most current updates on the assessment and management of geriatric care. FEATURES: • Numerous tables and figures that summarize conditions, values, mechanisms, therapeutics, and more • Thorough coverage of preventive services and disease screening • Eight chapters devoted to general management strategies • Important chapters on ethical issues and palliative care • Appendix of Internet resources on geriatrics Essentials of Clinical Geriatrics, Eighth Edition is the best resource available to help healthcare professionals provide the innovative, cost-effective, and person-centered care that older people and their caregivers deserve.

This new open access edition supported by the Fragility Fracture Network aims at giving the widest possible dissemination on fragility fracture (especially hip fracture) management and notably in countries where this expertise is sorely needed. It has been extensively revised and updated by the experts of this network to provide a unique and reliable content in one single volume. Throughout the book, attention is given to the difficult question of how to provide best practice in countries where the discipline of geriatric medicine is not well established and resources for secondary prevention are scarce. The revised and updated chapters on the epidemiology of hip fractures, osteoporosis, sarcopenia, surgery, anaesthesia, medical management of frailty, peri-operative complications, rehabilitation and nursing are supplemented by six new chapters. These include an overview of the multidisciplinary approach to fragility fractures and new contributions on pre-hospital care, treatment in the emergency room, falls prevention, nutrition and systems for audit. The reader will have an exhaustive overview and will gain essential, practical knowledge on how best to manage fractures in elderly patients and how to develop clinical systems that do so reliably.