Experiencing a fall can be traumatic enough, but a new study showed that what happens afterward is equally challenging. In short, not everyone who is injured in a fall receives the care they need after taking a spill, or gets the tools to prevent another one.
Researchers weren’t sure how frequently follow-up occurred after a fall, and if people were receiving preventative strategies. As a result, a team led by researchers from Florida Atlantic University’s Schmidt College of Medicine investigated the rate of follow-up by older adults who had fall-related head injury that sent them to their emergency department. Study results were published in the American Journal of Emergency Medicine last month.
The team evaluated data on 1,527 people over the age of 65 who fell and had a head-related trauma. All of the people had gone to their hospital emergency room for care. The researchers called the people 14 days after they were discharged from the hospital to ask about their care, whether or not they followed up with their primary care doctor, if the doctor analyzed why they fell, and if they had a plan in action to prevent future falls.
About 60% of the people with a fall-related head injury followed up with their primary care doctor after being discharged from the hospital. Though 72% received a fall assessment, only 56% adopted a personal fall prevention strategy. Interestingly, people who sought follow-up care from their primary care doctor were more likely to have a history of hypertension or cancer.
“We found that older patients treated in the emergency department for a fall-related head injury have suboptimal primary care physician follow-up and inadequate adoption of fall prevention strategies,” the authors stated in the report.
Of those who had a fall-prevention plan or strategy, physical therapy was prescribed for 68% of them.
“When referred to physical therapy, patients may be more likely to adopt fall prevention interventions and home safety modifications that have been shown to reduce recurrent falls, hospitalization, and mortality,” Richard Shih, MD, senior author and a professor of emergency medicine in FAU’s Schmidt College of Medicine, said in a statement. “Given the importance of fall prevention in this high-risk group, we strongly endorse that fall-risk assessment and patient education is performed in the emergency department or by the primary care physician. The physician follow-up should include fall-risk assessment and initiation of any appropriate interventions to prevent subsequent falls and fall-related injury.”
