Screening and assessment of falls risk in the emergency department.

IF 2.1 4区医学 Q2 EMERGENCY MEDICINE

Australasian Emergency Care Pub Date : 2025-03-15 DOI:10.1016/j.auec.2025.03.003

Paul Fulbrook, Sandra J Miles, Faye Jordan, Sarah Hazelwood, Hwee Yong Debbie Lee

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background: Falls are a source of harm, repeat emergency department visits and hospital admission for older adults. Undertaking a comprehensive geriatric screening including falls-risk is recommended in guidelines for optimal older adult emergency department care.

Methods: A pragmatic prospective cohort study was undertaken to evaluate use of further falls-risk screening in older adults in a large tertiary Australian hospital emergency department. Primary outcome measures of interest were length of stay; discharge destination; 30-day and 90-day re-presentations.

Results: Of 651 eligible cases, 320 were randomly recruited for further screening following consent. The implementation cohort spent an average 45 m longer in the emergency department with a greater proportion admitted to the short stay unit, staying there longer than a comparison cohort. There were significantly fewer 30-day fall-related representations (2.9 %) in the implementation cohort.

Conclusions: Despite a small reduction in emergency department re-presentation within 30 days in the implementation cohort, hospital admission was not reduced. Further research is needed to examine any cost-benefit ratio of additional falls-risk screening and intervention in emergency departments.

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来源期刊

Australasian Emergency Care Nursing-Emergency Nursing

CiteScore

3.30

自引率

5.60%

发文量

审稿时长

37 days

期刊介绍： Australasian Emergency Care is an international peer-reviewed journal dedicated to supporting emergency nurses, physicians, paramedics and other professionals in advancing the science and practice of emergency care, wherever it is delivered. As the official journal of the College of Emergency Nursing Australasia (CENA), Australasian Emergency Care is a conduit for clinical, applied, and theoretical research and knowledge that advances the science and practice of emergency care in original, innovative and challenging ways. The journal serves as a leading voice for the emergency care community, reflecting its inter-professional diversity, and the importance of collaboration and shared decision-making to achieve quality patient outcomes. It is strongly focussed on advancing the patient experience and quality of care across the emergency care continuum, spanning the pre-hospital, hospital and post-hospital settings within Australasia and beyond.