Patient adoption of pharmacist recommendations to older adults presenting to emergency department with falls: A secondary analysis of GAPcare

Abstract

Among adults aged 65 and older, falls are the leading cause of both fatal and non-fatal injuries; annually, they result in 3 million emergency department (ED) visits, 950,000 subsequent hospitalizations, and 32,000 deaths.1 To address this crisis, the 2013 Geriatric Emergency Medicine Guidelines state that ED clinicians should initiate fall prevention efforts by screening for polypharmacy and fall risk increasing medication.2,3 Organizations such as the National Quality Forum have also endorsed quality metrics related to the assessment of medications that increase the risk of falling.4 Despite these recommendations, there is limited research on ED-based interventions to address medication risk factors. Interventions targeting medications outside the ED have relied primarily on pharmacist review alone and have not included direct consultation with patients, despite the fact that patient engagement is necessary to modify medication-related choices.5-7.