New Publication: Lessons Learned Implementing CDC’s STEADI Fall Prevention Initiative

New Publication: Lessons Learned Implementing CDC’s STEADI Fall Prevention Initiative

Falls are the leading cause of injury-related deaths in adults 65 years and older, with death rates doubling since the year 2000. In response to this growing public health problem, CDC developed STEADI (Stopping Elderly Accidents, Deaths, and Injuries) to help make falls screening and management a routine part of clinical care.

A new article in The Gerontologist, "Lessons Learned from Implementing CDC’s STEADI Fall Prevention Algorithm in Primary Care", describes a successful and practical application of STEADI in the large academic internal medicine clinic at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) in Portland, OR.

Successful implementation of the STEADI algorithm was facilitated by:

• Obtaining buy-in from clinic leadership and staff,
• Adapting STEADI to fit within existing clinic processes,
• Developing electronic health record (EHR) tools based on STEADI,
• Having clinical champions embedded within the practice to quickly identify and respond to challenges, and
• Partnering with the state public health department to link patients to community resources.

Free access to this article and its supplemental materials are available from now until July 4, 2016.

Based largely on the STEADI EHR tools developed and tested at OHSU, CDC worked with Epic, OHSU, and the University of Wisconsin to develop a Clinical Program for Epic EHR Systems—Preventing Falls in Primary Care Using STEADI—which is available in Epic 2015 Edition 3 of the Foundation System. Epic users can contact their representative for more information. A STEADI module for GE Centricity EHRs is forthcoming.

Falls are not an inevitable part of aging. Specific steps, such as those used in the STEADI initiative, can be taken within the clinical setting to help safeguard older Americans so they stay healthy, active, and independent longer.

Learn More

• The Gerontologist: Lessons Learned From Implementing CDC’s STEADI Falls Prevention Algorithm in Primary Care
• Falls Among Older Adults: An Overview
• CDC's STEADI

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Facebook

• Learn how you can implement STEADI into your clinical practice to help prevent older adult falls. A new article in The Gerontologist shows how one practice successfully accomplished this. Download this article, along with informative supplemental materials today.http://bit.ly/1qLzf3B

Twitter

• New article explores lessons learned implementing #STEADI into clinical practice. Read and learn more http://bit.ly/1qLzf3B
• Clinic leadership buy-in, EHR tools & clinical champions = keys to success in implementing CDC’s STEADI. http://bit.ly/1qLzf3B