Falls and Balance Problems in the Elderly: Assessment and Management in Primary Care

Falls and Balance Problems in the Elderly: Assessment and Management in Primary Care
University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
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Product ID: 18827

Abstract: 

The University of Cincinnati/Health Alliance Reynolds Physician Training Center developed this geriatric medicine curriculum for educating primary care physicians in the community on falls in oder adults. The curriculum combines case-based presentation, innovative question and answer sessions, and an individual audience response system (ARS) with the responses displayed on the screen. Faculty from University of Cincinnati College of Medicine made computer presentations with video clips on two visits to the physician groups interested in participating in this educational activity. Handouts consist of leading articles, patient handouts and other practice material to be used by office staff in patient records. Participating physicians were encouraged to do a quality improvement process in their practices using the materials supplied to identify fallers and other older persons at risk in their practice.

The downloads for this curriculum include 2 PowerPoint presentations, several PDF articles and word files. There are also 2 video clips on a CD. Please contact Arvind Modawal, MD at modawaa@uc.edu to obtain materials. CME credit is available for this product. For more information, please contact the author.

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Educational objectives: 

Learners will increase their knowledge of fall assessment and prevention in the elderly.

Learners will be able to:

  1. Identify aging changes and risk factors for falls in the elderly.
  2. Develop an approach to assessment of a person with falls, balance and gait disorder in an older adult.
  3. Understand the role of medications and environmental factors in the prevention and management of falls.
  4. Learn practical effective management strategies for falls in ambulatory practice and develop practice protocols for fallers.
Additional information/Special implementation requirements or guidelines: 

The presentations were made to about 100 physicians and health professionals in 25 primary care practices in Cincinnati. Primary care physicians liked the many educational tips given during the presentation to increase their knowledge of fall assessment and prevention using two interesting case studies of older fallers. It is best to carry this educational activity in small group setting with 2 - 25 learners, to use the individual audience response system and make it interactive on the questions and answers, include some discussion on their current practice to make it interesting and relevant to their needs.

Date posted: 
Sun, 02/04/2007
Date last updated: 
Sun, 02/04/2007
CME credits available: 
No
Has this product been peer reviewed?: 
No
Discipline/specialty: 
Contact person/corresponding author: 
Arvind Modawal (modawaa@uc.edu)
Authors: 
Arvind Modawal
NLM Citation:
Modawal, A. Falls and Balance Problems in the Elderly: Assessment and Management in Primary Care . POGOe - Portal of Geriatric Online Education; 2007 Available from: http://www.pogoe.org/productid/18827
APA Citation:
Modawal, A. (2007). Falls and Balance Problems in the Elderly: Assessment and Management in Primary Care . POGOe - Portal of Geriatric Online Education. Retrieved February 05, 2012 from http://www.pogoe.org/productid/18827