CDC - STEADI - Older Adult Falls - Home and Recreational Safety - Injury Center

CDC - STEADI - Older Adult Falls - Home and Recreational Safety - Injury Center



Do You Know What 3 Questions Can Help Protect Older Adults from Falls?







One in three older adults falls each year, yet less than half tell their health care provider. A new CDC/Medscape video commentary with CDC’s Dr. Grant Baldwin aims to help start this important conversation.

The video, part of CDC’s STEADI initiative, highlights three questions that health care providers can integrate into routine office visits with patients 65 and older:

1. Have you fallen in the past year?
2. Do you feel unsteady when standing or walking?
3. Do you worry about falling?

Using the tools in CDC’s STEADI initiative, the video then guides health care providers on screening, assessments, and proven interventions, such as:

• Reviewing medications to ensure appropriate geriatric doses and reducing fall risk-increasing drugs.
• Recommending Vitamin D supplements.

Watch the Medscape Video CDC Expert Commentary: Are You Asking Older Adult Patients the Right Questions? (free Medscape login required)

Why This Is Important

A fall among an older adult can lead to injuries that reduce mobility, limit social interactions, decrease physical fitness, lower quality of life, and increase the risk of early death. Through STEADI, CDC is working to educate patients and health care providers about how to help keep older adults safe from falls, so they can stay healthy, active, and independent longer.

Spread the Word

New CDC/Medscape Video highlights 3 questions that health care providers should ask every patient 65 and older. http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/841020 #WHCoA

Learn More

• Download STEADI (Stop Elderly Accidents, Death & Injuries) Tool Kit for Health Care Providers
• Learn about other proven interventions, such as community-based programs, recommended through STEADI to prevent falls among older adults
• Check out the STEADI Algorithm for Fall Risk Assessment & Interventions
• 
  
• 
  

STEADI (Stopping Elderly Accidents, Deaths & Injuries) Tool Kit for Health Care Providers

Did you realize that one out of three people 65 and older falls each year?

The good news is that health care providers can help reduce their patients’ chances of falling and of suffering serious injuries like hip fractures and traumatic brain damage.

CDC’s Injury Center created the STEADI Tool Kit for health care providers who see older adults in their practice who are at risk of falling or who may have fallen in the past. The STEADI Tool Kit gives health care providers the information and tools they need to assess and address their older patients’ fall risk.

Read more...

Order Tool Kits

To order print copies of the STEADI Tool Kit materials, please go to the CDC-INFO on Demand Publications page and search for STEADI.

Order Printed Copies

Download PDFs

Download STEADI Tool Kit Materials

Make Fall Prevention Part of Your Practice

• Triage Your Patients Based on Fall Risk This tool walks health care providers through assessing a patient’s fall risk, educating patients, selecting interventions, and following up.
• Have Your Patients Check Their Risk of Falling Mantenga su independencia This brochure offers a checklist that patients can use to check their risk of falling.(Available in both English and Spanish.)
• Prevent Falls in Older Patients, Provider Pocket Guide This small, easy-to-use tool walks health care providers through key points of fall prevention.

• See Your Patient's Risk at a Glance This checklist allows health care providers to summarize an older patient's fall risk.
• Integrate Fall Prevention into Your Practice This wall chart helps health care providers determine who in their practice will be responsible for conducting fall risk assessments, delivering interventions, and providing education to older patients.
• Talk about Fall Prevention with Your Patients This document can help health care providers comfortably talk about fall prevention with patients.

Get Background Information about Falls

• Falls Are a Major Threat for Your Patients Learn how serious a problem falls are for older adults.
  
• Risk Factors for Falls Learn which modifiable risk factors you should focus on first to prevent falls among your patients.

• Medications Linked to Falls Learn how medication management can reduce falls.      

Read Case Studies Featuring Patients at Risk of Falling

• Case Study 1 Mrs. Booker, a low-risk patient who has come in for a wellness visit.
  
  
• Case Study 2 Mr. Ying, a medium-risk patient who has been limiting his activities.
  
  

• Case Study 3 Mrs. White, a high-risk patient who had a recent fall.

Use Validated Tests to Assess Your Patients’ Falls Risk Factors

• The Timed Up and Go (TUG) Test Use this test to assess a patient's mobility. See our simple instructions, and watch the short video on how to conduct the test. Instructional Video
• The 30-Second Chair Stand Test Use this test to assess a patient's leg strength and endurance. See our simple instructions, and watch the short video on how to conduct the test. Instructional Video

• The 4-Stage Balance Test Use this test to assess a patient's balance. See our simple instructions, and watch the short video on how to conduct the test. Instructional Video
• Measuring Orthostatic Blood Pressure Use this tool to determine if a patient may have postural hypotension.

Offer Your Patients a Medical Referral

• Patient Referral Form Use this form to refer a patient to a specialist for gait and mobility problems or for other medical problems that may increase his or her risk of falling.

Offer Your Patients Encouragement, Resources & Referrals

• Stay Independent Mantenga su independencia Give this brochure to patients to help them to check their risk of falling.(Available in both English and Spanish.)
• Chair Rise Exercise Ejercicios de elevación con una silla Recommend this simple exercise to your older patients to help improve their thigh and buttock strength and to reduce their fall risk. (Available in both English and Spanish.)
• Recommended Programs Form Use this form to recommend community programs to your older patients to increase their strength and balance. An example of such a program is Tai Chi.

• Postural Hypotension, What It Is and How to Manage It Hipotensión postural, Qué es y cómo controlarla Use this brochure to teach patients how to manage their postural hypotension.(Available in both English and Spanish.)
• What YOU Can Do to Prevent FallsUse this brochure to help patients learn how to reduce their chances of falling.
  
• Check for Safety: A Home Fall Prevention Checklist for Older AdultsEncourage patients to use this checklist to help identify and eliminate fall hazards in their home.