Nova Scotia Falls Prevention Update

Preventing Falls Together Conference

October 29, 2009Suzanne Baker

The leading causes of falls are preventable with a coordinated prevention effort.

Seniors’ Falls Facts

• 33% of community dwelling seniors fall yearly– 50% of falls result in minor injury– 5-25% result in serious injury

• Seniors have 9X more falls injuries compared to those at younger ages

• Falls: the most common cause of injury for seniors

More Seniors’ Falls Facts

• Falls cause > 90% of hip fractures;

• 15-20% of those with hip fractures will die

• 50% of all nursing home admissions

• Falls: leading cause of injury hospital

admissions and ER visits

6

DeathsHospitalizations

Emergency Dept visits

Treated at home or never treated

Fall Injuries:

the Surface

Treated in a physician’s office

What causes a fall?

Leadership, Infrastructure & Partnership

GOAL: Appropriate and adequate leadership, infrastructure, and partnerships sustain all aspects of the Strategic Framework.

Activities:• Providing ongoing leadership and support at provincial and DHA

levels (i.e. planning support and advocacy with DHAs, etc)• Provincial Intersectoral Falls Prevention Committee• Funding for a part-time position to facilitate coordination among

districts and provide expert advice to province and DHAs• Funding from HPP for a Tri-District team to participate in the

National Collaborative on Falls in Long-Term Care• Increased funding for Preventing Falls Together• Canadian Falls Prevention Curriculum Delivery and Leadership

Home Support Exercise Program (HSEP)

• Evidence-based physical activity intervention for frail elderly

• Canadian Centre for Activity and Aging (University of Western Ontario)

• Specifically designed for implementation by home support workers

• Proposal (SSH and Continuing Care supported by Home Support Agencies)

Awareness and Understanding

GOAL: Nova Scotians are aware of the issue of seniors’ falls and fall-related injuries and understand how to prevent them.

Activities:• Provided social marketing workshops to Falls Prevention

Coalitions and other partners• Support for annual falls prevention week (Provincial

Proclamation)• Ongoing education and meetings with policy makers to

raise issue of falls (DoH and HPP Senior Leadership)• Interprofessional education (Colleges and Universities)

Education

GOAL: Seniors, care providers, organizations, and communities have the skills and knowledge to reduce the risk of falls and fall-related injuries.

Activities:• Canadian Falls Prevention Curriculum delivery and

leadership (by mid-June, more than 250 people will be certified in the CFPC)

• Support for Tri-District project• Funding for Red Cross H.E.L.P. program to incorporate

falls prevention within their initiative• Preventing Falls Together Toolkit

Canadian Falls Prevention Curriculum

• The Department of Health Promotion and Protection, in collaboration with their seniors’ falls prevention partners adopted this curriculum and training began in February 2008.

• During the course, participants will learn about:• the nature and scope of seniors’ falls • the complex causes of falls, the modifiable risk factors, and

how to identify seniors at increased risk of falling• evidence-based falls risk assessment tools• best practice falls prevention interventions• applying a practical program planning model to the design

and implementation of falls prevention initiatives• evaluating the effectiveness of falls prevention programs

Supportive Environments & Policy

GOAL: Supportive environments are created and nurtured by healthy public policies that promote health and reduce the risk of falls and fall-related injuries.

Activities:• Canadian Falls Prevention Curriculum delivery and

leadership• Funding for part-time position to facilitate coordination

among districts and provide expert advice to province and DHAs

• Strategy for Positive Aging• Physical Activity and Older Adults

Knowledge Development & Exchange

GOAL: Community action and the decisions of policy makers are informed by timely collection, analysis, and dissemination of data and research on seniors’ falls.

Activities:• Funding for Dalhousie University and South Shore Health falls

research partnership• Nova Scotia involved in national initiative to improve collection and

dissemination of seniors’ fall-related data (standardization of collection tools, definitions, and data reports)

• Collaborator on CIHR Grant Proposal – Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA)-Injury Team (IT) initiative

• Continue to share and promote the Seniors’ Falls Data Report• Canadian Falls Prevention Curriculum Delivery and Leadership

Research Initiative

• Partnership between South Shore Health and Dalhousie University, funded by Health Promotion and Protection

• Addresses the effectiveness of processes used in a rural District Health Authority to develop and implement a complex health initiative, namely Seniors Falls Prevention.

• Entering the second phase of research, where 3-5 teams taking action on falls will be included in the study.

Provincial Falls Prevention Network

New Required Organizational Practices for 2008

• New Goal—Reduce the risk of injuries resulting from client falls

• New ROP—implement and evaluate a falls prevention strategy to minimize the impact of client falls– Falls prevention strategy– Population at risk for falls– Specific needs– Evaluation– Improvements

Potential Required Organizational Practices for 2011

• Least Restraint Policy

• Home Risk Assessments

Provincial Falls Prevention District Network

Purpose: • To provide a forum for the DHA and IWK

acute care facilities to collaborate on the development and implementation of falls prevention policies, tools, resources, data collection, and initiatives.

Scope: • The focus of the network will be on the

acute care/hospital setting.

Strategy #1

• To establish a network of DHA leaders and staff to facilitate greater collaboration and sharing of falls prevention information, tools, policies and programs among the districts. The scope of the network includes the continuum of care.

Strategy #2

• Developing a virtual (web-based) central forum for the exchange of best practices and evidence related to falls prevention as well as ongoing networking and problem-solving.

Strategy #3

• Collaboratively develop and recommend standardized evidence based policies, data collection processes, risk assessment and intervention tools for the DHA.

Strategy #4

• Developing guidelines for evaluating existing and future tools, interventions, and policies.

Challenges

• Changing Behaviours– Educate– Change practice

• Create an environment that balances risk and best practice for the high risk patient

• Creating a Senior Friendly Environment

Contact Information

Suzanne Baker

Falls Prevention Coordinator

Department of Health

Promotion and Protection/South

Shore Health

Phone: (902) 634-8807 x3193

Email:sbaker@ssdha.nshealth.ca