Authors (including presenting author) :
Leung SN(1), Dai SH(2), Yu CL(3)
Affiliation :
(1)Department of Occupational Therapy, Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital(PYNEH)
Introduction :
Falls are the leading cause of injury related hospitalizations among people aged 60 years and above in Hong Kong. Most falls are preventable and it’s well known that fall prevention program could effectively minimize the recurrent fall of elderly patient. A fall prevention program was developed in PYNEH to patient aged 60 or above and admitted due to fall. This program aims to facilitate the early and safe discharge of patient with fall and minimize the readmission rate to Accident and Emergency Department(AED) due to fall.
Objectives :
To investigate the effectiveness of fall prevention program in EMW and post-discharge home visit on prevention of readmission to AED due to fall.
Methodology :
Patients admitted to EMW from 1/9/20 to 31/8/21 were screened by Occupational Therapist according to the following recruitment criteria: 1) Age ≥ 60, and 2) current admission due to fall. Patient who fulfilled the recruitment criteria would be recruited into the fall prevention program. Home visit would be provided to patient with high risk of fall and lives at home. The episodes of readmission to hospital due to fall were followed retrospectively through CMS. The history of readmission due to fall within post discharge 1 month and 3 months period were documented.
Result & Outcome :
255 cases were recruited into the fall prevention program in EMW during the study period. The number of cases with nil history of fall within post discharge 3 month were 241(94.5%). The number of patient with history of readmission rate due to fall within 1 month and 3 months were 4(1.6%) and 14(5.5%) respectively. However, patients who did not receive fall prevention program showed higher readmission rate, within 1 month(3.6%) and 3 months(7.1%). The number of cases with home visit done by occupational therapist were 10 and no record of readmission due to fall in post 1 month and 3 months(0%) was found.
To conclude, this review revealed that early screening and recruitment of patient to fall prevention program at EMW could minimize the readmission rate of patient due to fall in post discharge 1 month and 3 months period. In addition, it revealed that patient who received home visit service could further minimize the readmission rate due to fall. Thus, it is advised to have a protocol driven service on fall prevention program in EMW and home visit after patient discharge to lower AED readmission rate of patients with fall.
