@article{ref1,
title="Stand up and fight falls: can a video intervention help reduce falls in the  geriatric population?",
journal="Curēus",
year="2020",
author="Samson, Margot and Davenport, Kathleen and Rizzo, Caroline and Liu, Shan W.",
volume="12",
number="11",
pages="e11508-e11508",
abstract="INTRODUCTION: Falls are a major source of morbidity and mortality in the geriatric  population. However, efforts to reduce falls have had limited success. This study  examines if a video intervention presented in the ED to patients who have fallen  could improve fall education and reduce future falls. <br><br>METHODS: Patients 65 years and  older who presented to a large academic ED for a fall between June and December  2017 were identified via triage note for an intercept study. Patients who did not  speak English, who were cognitively impaired, or whose condition was too acute  (determined by providing physician) were excluded. Sixty-two eligible and consenting  patients were shown a six-minute video intervention with recommendations to prevent  future falls. Primary objectives include (1) whether patients found the  recommendations reasonable to implement and (2) rate of implementation. Secondary  aims were (3) perceived health status between patients who followed the  recommendations versus those who did not and (4) rates of recurrent falls and ED  revisits between the two groups. Data were analyzed using the Newcombe-Wilson Score  Method and Fisher's exact two-tailed t-tests. <br><br>RESULTS: Of 62 patients enrolled, 38  were retained at a six-month follow-up. Ninety-two percent of patients found the  video intervention to be a reasonable education tool. At six months, 44.7% of  patients implemented behavioral changes discussed in the video, and 21.1% had at  least one new fall, with no significant difference between people who implemented  video interventions and those who did not (23.5% and 19.0%, difference 0.045, 95% CI  [-0.24 to 0.34], p=1.0). The rate of return to the ED at six months for all patients  was 31.6%, with no significant difference between the two groups (23.5% versus  38.1%, difference 0.146, 95% CI [-0.18 to 0.43], p=0.49). Difference in the  proportion of people feeling the same or better between the two groups was not  significant at either the one-month (66.7% versus 75.0%, difference 0.083, 95% CI  [-0.21 to 0.34], p=0.75) or six-month follow up (64.7% versus 47.6%, difference  0.171, 95% CI [-0.17 to 0.46], p=0.34). <br><br>CONCLUSION: This study found that while most  patients find behavioral interventions feasible and reasonable to implement, only  half actually make changes to their lives to reduce the risk of falling. This  suggests that identifying and limiting barriers to implementation should be a  priority in future studies, along with exploring the relationship between  interventions and health status, ED revisits, and recurrent falls.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="2168-8184",
doi="10.7759/cureus.11508",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.7759/cureus.11508"
}