Preventing Falls in Primary Care

November 17, 2016 - 10:00am Source

This webinar highlights best practices for falls prevention, including patient assessment, medication review and reduction, and referral to community resources. It offers practical approaches for teams to adopt evidence-based falls prevention strategies in their clinic work flow and summarizes challenges and lessons learned during the adoption of the CDC’s STEADI (Stopping Elderly Accidents Deaths and Injuries) initiative at a large health system.

Objectives:

  1. Describe evidence-based strategies to reduce the risk of falls in older adults
  2. Describe successful approaches to implementing falls prevention into clinical settings
  3. Highlight lessons learned during implementation of the CDC’s STEADI program at a large health system

Participants will leave with the following information:

  1. Top evidence-based recommendations to reduce the risk of falls in older adults
  2. How to think about reducing risky medications for falls
  3. Practical recommendations for implementing a falls prevention initiative in a clinical setting
  4. Strategies to overcome barriers to implementation of a falls prevention initiative in a clinical setting
  5. Strategies for sustaining a falls prevention program in a busy primary care setting

Presented By:

Elizabeth Eckstrom, MD, MPH

Associate Professor & Director of Geriatrics

Division of General Internal Medicine & Geriatrics

Oregon Health & Science University

Elizabeth Eckstrom, MD, MPH, is Associate Professor and Director of Geriatrics in the Division of General Internal Medicine & Geriatrics at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU). She leads the geriatrics practice within the OHSU Internal Medicine Clinic, championing geriatric best practices in the vibrant combined Division, and teaches students, residents and geriatric fellows. She is part of the OHSU Interprofessional Initiative, developing evaluation tools and leading interprofessional faculty development. Her research focuses on promoting a healthy lifestyle in older adults, with an emphasis on tai chi for falls prevention. She also conducts studies to enhance interprofessional teamwork in falls prevention and has developed and tested electronic health record tools to facilitate uptake of evidence-based practices. She co-directs OHSU’s Healthy Aging Alliance.