Home care worker-supported exercise program to address falls: a feasibility study.

BACKGROUND: Falls are a major concern for community-dwelling older adults. The Otago Exercise Program (OEP) is an evidence-based home program that reduces risk of falls. Exercise participation and program adherence can be challenging. Home care workers (HCWs) are well positioned to provide support for older adults. METHODS: This feasibility study included: HCW training; HCW in-home support of a physiotherapist-tailored OEP; online physiotherapy consultations; older participant questionnaires and functional outcome measures; and HCW and older participant interviews. RESULTS: Twelve older adults, eight HCWs and one physiotherapist participated. A small falls risk reduction, and improvement in falls efficacy, quality of life and functional improvement were noted. Thematic analysis showed formal and informal support was valued by older adults and HCWs. A role-ordered matrix synthesis highlighted variable ongoing independent program participation. CONCLUSIONS: By Your Side, a physiotherapist-led and home care worker-supported modified OEP provides a feasible and acceptable option for falls prevention in home care services. Collaborative teamwork, and both formal and informal support, are key aspects to optimising engagement and benefits.

A codesigned fit-for-purpose implementation framework for aged care.

RATIONALE, AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: The field of implementation science is critical for embedding research evidence into healthcare practice, benefiting individuals, organizations, governments, and the broader community. Implementation science is messy and complex, underpinned by many theories and frameworks. Efficacious interventions for older people with multiple comorbidities exist, yet many lack effectiveness evaluation relevant to pragmatic implementation within aged care practice. This article outlines the conceptualization and development of an Implementation Framework for Aged Care (IFAC), fit-for-purpose for an aged care organization, Bolton Clarke, intent on embedding evidence into practice. METHOD: A four-stage process was adopted to (1) explore context and relevant literature to conceptualize the IFAC; (2) identify key elements for a draft IFAC; (3) expand elements and refine the draft in consultation with experts and (4) apply the IFAC to three existing projects, identifying key learnings. A checklist to operationalize the IFAC was then developed. RESULTS: The IFAC is grounded in codesign principles and encapsulated by the implementation context, from a social, cultural and political perspective. The IFAC addresses the questions of (1) why do we need to change?; (2) what do we know?; (3) who will benefit?; (4) who will make the change?; (5) what strategies will be used?; and (6) what difference are we making? Three pilot projects: early adoption of a Wellness and Reablement approach; a care worker and virtual physiotherapist-led program to prevent falls; and a therapeutic horticulture program for residential communities, highlight learnings of applying the IFAC in practice. CONCLUSION: This fit-for-purpose IFAC was developed for a proactive and responsive aged care provider. The simplicity of the six-question IFAC is underpinned by substantial theoretical perspectives for its elements and their connections. This complexity is then consolidated into an 18-question checklist to operationalize the IFAC, necessary to advance the translation of evidence into clinical practice.

Local adaptation and evaluation of a falls risk prevention approach in acute hospitals.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether locally adapting a falls risk factor assessment tool results in an instrument with clinimetric properties sufficient to support an acute hospital's falls prevention program. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study of predictive validity and observational investigation of intra- and inter-rater reliability. SETTING: Acute wards in two large hospitals in Melbourne, Australia. PARTICIPANTS: One hundred and thirty acute hospital inpatients participated in the predictive accuracy evaluation, with 25 and 35 inpatients used for the intra-rater and inter-rater reliability analyses, respectively. INTERVENTION(S): To develop a falls risk screen and assessment instrument through local adaptation of an existing tool. Clinimetric property analysis of new instrument (Western Health Falls Risk Assessment, WHeFRA) and comparison with 'gold standard tool' (STRATIFY). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Fallers, falls and falls per 1000 bed days. Sensitivity (Sens), specificity (Spec), Youden Index (YI) and these three statistics based on event rate of falls (Sens(ER), Spec(ER) and YI(ER)), were calculated to determine predictive accuracy. Reliability was determined using intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), weighted kappa and signed rank test. RESULTS: Seven participants (5.4%) fell, with 14 falls (fall rate: 10.7 falls per 1000 patient bed days). The WHeFRA instrument was significantly more accurate at predicting fallers and the rate of falls than the STRATIFY. Intra-rater reliability ICC (95% confidence intervals) for WHeFRA screen was 0.94 (0.86-0.97) and inter-rater reliability was 0.78 (0.61-0.88). CONCLUSIONS: Local adaptation of an existing tool resulted in an instrument with favorable clinimetric properties and may be a viable procedure for facilitating falls prevention program development and implementation in acute hospital settings.

Falls in the acute hospital setting--impact on resource utilisation.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the resource utilisation of patients who fall within an acute metropolitan hospital. DESIGN: Retrospective observational study, part of a larger falls prevention project in a 323-bed acute care, tertiary teaching hospital in Melbourne, Australia. A review of falls incidents was undertaken for all patient admissions for 18 months from January 2002, excluding the Day Procedure Unit, Intensive Care Unit, Coronary Care Unit and the Emergency Department. PROCEDURE: The most common diagnosis related groups (DRGs) associated with fallers were identified, and within each DRG, fallers were matched to non-fallers by age and gender. Difference in hospital length of stay (LOS) and disparity in resource consumption by these two groups were calculated. RESULTS: The DRG with the highest proportion of fallers was "Dementia and other chronic disturbances of cerebral function" (24%). Three of the top six DRGs had significantly longer LOS for fallers compared with non-fallers ("Delirium", "Stroke" and "Respiratory conditions") (P<0.05). Hospital-related costs were significantly higher for fallers compared with non-fallers for the DRG "Stroke with severe/complicating diagnosis/procedure" only (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Inpatient LOS and total associated costs for patients who fell and were classified among the DRGs with the highest proportion of fallers were substantially higher than those of matched non-fallers. Effective falls prevention activities targeting these high-risk groups should be a priority, in the context of broader falls prevention activities within a hospital setting.

Design-related bias in hospital fall risk screening tool predictive accuracy evaluations: systematic review and meta-analysis.

INTRODUCTION: Fall risk screening tools are frequently used as a part of falls prevention programs in hospitals. Design-related bias in evaluations of tool predictive accuracy could lead to overoptimistic results, which would then contribute to program failure in practice. METHODS: A systematic review was undertaken. Two blind reviewers assessed the methodology of relevant publications into a four-point classification system adapted from multiple sources. The association between study design classification and reported results was examined using linear regression with clustering based on screening tool and robust variance estimates with point estimates of Youden Index (= sensitivity + specificity - 1) as the dependent variable. Meta-analysis was then performed pooling data from prospective studies. RESULTS: Thirty-five publications met inclusion criteria, containing 51 evaluations of fall risk screening tools. Twenty evaluations were classified as retrospective validation evaluations, 11 as prospective (temporal) validation evaluations, and 20 as prospective (external) validation evaluations. Retrospective evaluations had significantly higher Youden Indices (point estimate [95% confidence interval]: 0.22 [0.11, 0.33]). Pooled Youden Indices from prospective evaluations demonstrated the STRATIFY, Morse Falls Scale, and nursing staff clinical judgment to have comparable accuracy. DISCUSSION: Practitioners should exercise caution in comparing validity of fall risk assessment tools where the evaluation has been limited to retrospective classifications of methodology. Heterogeneity between studies indicates that the Morse Falls Scale and STRATIFY may still be useful in particular settings, but that widespread adoption of either is unlikely to generate benefits significantly greater than that of nursing staff clinical judgment.