Guide to preventing falls for older people living in the community

Abstract

Introduction: Worldwide high costs are spent with new cases of hospitalization and institutionalization caused by fractures in older people. Although there are several programs to prevent falls, clear guidelines are missing to identify the effectiveness of nursing interventions. Yet, more research is needed to synthetize knowledge, to develop, implement and evaluate interventions to prevent falls and other negative consequences. Objective: The main goal of this research is to develop a guide of good practice for preventing falls in older people at home Methods: After a systematic review, the PPFalls team will develop a focus group who will work with experts in this field, such as nurses and other health professionals from community units and academic experts whose goal is a guide of good practice creation on falls prevention throughout 2014. This guide is also intended to: (1) define the key elements which make fall prevention programs effective; (2) alert older people, informal caregivers about the major intrinsic and extrinsic factors on risk of falling. This guide will become a tool to be used by decision makers and delivered in community-dwelling, especially in the region of Cávado, in Northern Portugal. Results and Conclusions: It is expected that this guide may support older people and informal caregivers to improve falls prevention by emphasizing the individual potential of each older person. Health professionals, in general, and nurses, in particular, have an important role concerning falls prevention, especially those who work in the community counseling and screening older people who have the highest risk of falling.