Identifying Falls Risk

Course Overview

This Course will look at what a fall is, why identifying falls risk is important and what healthcare professionals need to be aware of to appropriately identify fall risk.

Topics

• The importance of identifying falls risk;
• How to conduct a falls risk assessment;
• Personal and environmental risk factors;
• Screening and assessment for at-risk individuals.

Need

In inpatient settings, fall injuries have steadily increased and the impacts of falls on individuals are far-reaching.

Prevention strategies should emphasise education, training, creating safer environments, prioritising fall-related research and establishing effective policies to reduce risk.

Purpose

Enable healthcare professionals to appropriately identify patients/residents who are at risk of falling through an understanding of what a fall is, why falling is an issue of concern and how to identify environmental and personal risk factors for falling.

Learning Outcomes

• Be confident in your knowledge of falls to better care for at-risk people and those who have experienced a fall.
• Immediately identify intrinsic and extrinsic risk factors for falling in a variety of settings to better implement preventative strategies.
• Use validated and supported risk screening and assessment tools to determine an individual's degree of risk or harm from falls.

Target Audience

All healthcare professionals working in both inpatient and community health settings.

Disclosure

No conflict of interest exists for anyone in the position to control content for this activity. Wherever possible, generic or non-proprietary names of medications or products have been used.

Educator

Diana Clayton

Diana Clayton is a clinical nurse consultant who works for Peninsula Health in the falls prevention service. She initially set up the inpatient falls prevention program and currently oversees the program in the subacute and residential care settings. She has been in her current role for 13 years and has presented at a number of conferences over that time. She is a passionate advocate for falls prevention across the whole health spectrum. See Educator Profile