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The population is rapidly growing, significantly impacting healthcare settings such as hospitals and long-term care. Falls are a major concern, being a leading cause of hospitalisations and injuries especially among adults aged 60 and above. Despite extensive research on falls prevention and risk factors, there is limited study on effective post-fall management strategies, making it crucial to review and develop interventions to improve care and safety for older adults in healthcare settings.
To explore the interventions implemented for post-fall management for residents and patients within healthcare settings, including hospitals and long-term care facilities.
A scoping literature review.
We used the Joanna Briggs Institute guidance and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis extension for scoping reviews (PRISMA-ScR). Eligible articles included hospital and long-term care post-fall management interventions. Data were manually extracted by two independent reviewers using the AACTT (Actor, Action, Context, Target and Time) Framework to detail intervention characteristics and guide the data charting process, allowing for thematic analysis and narrative synthesis of key findings.
Medline, CINAHL, PsychINFO and Scopus were searched from inception until 30th September 2024.
Eighteen articles were included. Over half the studies (55.5%) focused on post-fall interventions in LTCFs, testing assessment tools (50%), structured protocols (27.7%), huddles (11.1%) or multifactorial approaches (11.1%), with varied effectiveness. While assessment tools and huddles showed mixed results, structured protocols showed encouraging results with reduced unnecessary hospital transfers and hospitalisations.
This scoping review identified a variety of interventions used after falls in healthcare settings. However, there is inconclusive evidence about the effectiveness of interventions to reduce hospitalisation and injuries. This review identified areas for research that may help to inform post-fall management, including the need for further research into various interventions (e.g., standardised toolkit) to enhance care immediately following a fall.
No Patient or Public Contribution.
To evaluate the effect of a novel, co-designed, digital AF educational program, ‘INFORM-AF’, to reduce re-hospitalisation of people with AF.
The secondary aims are to examine the effect of the intervention on: (a) reducing cardiovascular-related hospitalisation, (b) increasing medication adherence, AF-related knowledge, and Atrial fibrillation (AF)-related quality of life and (c) determining the cost-effectiveness of the intervention.
AF is an increasingly prevalent cardiac arrythmia that involves complex clinical management. Comprehensive education is essential for successful self-management of AF and is associated with positive health-related outcomes. There has been an increase in technology-based education for AF. However, its effects on hospitalisation, medication adherence and patient-reported outcomes are unclear.
A prospective, randomised (1:1), open-label, blinded-endpoint, multicentre clinical trial.
Eligible participants are aged 18 years or above, diagnosed with AF, and own a smartphone. The study will be conducted at two metropolitan hospitals. In the intervention group, participants will receive the AF educational program delivered via Qstream®. In the control group, participants will receive the Stroke Foundation ‘Living with AF’ booklet. The primary outcome is re-hospitalisation within 12 months from an indexed presentation or hospital admission.
This clinical trial is part of a developing program of work that will examine mHealth educational-behavioural interventions on cardiovascular outcomes. Findings from this pilot study will inform the development of a digital educational framework for patients living with AF.
There remain many gaps in providing high-quality patient education for patients with AF. This trial will test a new theory-driven, smartphone-based education program on important clinical outcomes, including rehospitalisation.
This study evaluates a novel, co-designed, digital AF educational program, ‘INFORM-AF’, to reduce the re-hospitalisation of people with AF. Study results are expected to be reported in 2025. Findings are expected to inform practice recommendations for AF patient education that may be included in future clinical practice guideline recommendations.
SPIRIT Checklist.
JL is a consumer co-researcher on the project and provided critical input into intervention design, and feedback and input across the study duration.
FreshRSS 