The Bottom Line
Facilities are encouraged to consider the MFS or other fall risk assessment tools to empower nursing staff to perform quick and reliable fall risk evaluations.
The results of these tools, often focused on non-medication related fall risk factors, are best used in conjunction with medication evaluation to provide a holistic assessment of residents’ fall risk. This enables staff to both strategically allocate appropriate time and resources to a resident’s fall prevention strategies (corresponding to their relative risk) and to engage with appropriate members of the interdisciplinary team to
manage their identified modifiable risk factors.
Fall risk calculators are valuable tools in the proactive management of fall risk in nursing homes, incorporating a variety of medication factors to assess an individual's likelihood of falling and providing an overall quantitative measure that helps guide interventions.
PharMerica’s Fall Risk Calculator provides access to reporting at the resident level with insight into their relative fall risk by accounting for the total number of fall-risk medications a resident is prescribed (per STEADI) and the anticholinergic burden score of those medications (per Rudolph, et al). To learn more, ask your Consultant Pharmacist today!
Sources
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – Older Adult Fall Prevention
- Frailty Assessments: 7 Keys to Improve Outcomes, Quality of Life
- Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report – Nonfatal and Fatal Falls Among Adults Aged ≥65 Years — US, 2020–21
- World Health Organization – Global Report on Falls Prevention in Older Age