TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2017//
TI  - Controlled clinical trial exploring the impact of a brief intervention for prevention of falls in an emergency department
JO  - Emergency medicine Australasia
A1  - Harper, Kristie J.
A1  - Barton, Annette D.
A1  - Arendts, Glenn
A1  - Edwards, Deborah G.
A1  - Petta, Antonio C.
A1  - Celenza, Antonio
SP  - 524
EP  - 530
VL  - 29
IS  - 5
N2  - OBJECTIVE: To establish the effectiveness of a brief intervention to prevent falls in older patients presenting to the ED post-discharge. <br><br>METHODS: The present study is a prospective single-centre, quasi-randomised controlled clinical trial of a brief targeted educational intervention to prevent falls. The intervention group received brief scripted education and were advised of their percentage probability of falling in the next 6 months. The key message was to reinforce the importance of falls prevention strategies and the seriousness of falls. <br><br>RESULTS: A total of 412 over 65 years old were recruited; 63 (32.1%) patients in the intervention group and 67 (36.8%) in the control group reported falls in the 6 month follow up period (OR 0.81, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.53-1.25, P = 0.34). No significant differences were noted for mortalities (P = 0.54), ED representations (P = 0.15) and medication changes (P = 0.17). Patients receiving intervention had less hospital admissions (P = 0.002) after adjustment for confounding variables. Intervention patients who presented with a fall had significant (P = 0.007) improvement in function at 6 months, whereas those not presenting with a fall experienced functional decline. <br><br>CONCLUSION: A brief intervention was associated with maintenance of function in fallers and reduced hospital admissions, without preventing falls post-discharge.<br><br>© 2017 Australasian College for Emergency Medicine and Australasian Society for Emergency Medicine.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 1742-6731
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1742-6723.12804
ID  - ref1
ER  -