GeriWard Falls: An Interprofessional Team-Based Curriculum on Falls in the Hospitalized Older Adult

Interprofessional (IP) collaboration is key in caring for older adults and a critical part of health professions education. Falls are a source of significant morbidity and mortality in older adults. GeriWard, an innovative curriculum, emphasizes IP collaboration during a clinical encounter with a hospitalized older adult. GeriWard Falls expands on the existing GeriWard curriculum, allowing medical, pharmacy, physical therapy, and nursing students to conduct a comprehensive falls risk evaluation at the bedside.

The 2-hour exercise consists of participation in a team-based falls risk assessment at the bedside of a hospitalized older adult, development of a falls care plan and communication with the patient and primary inpatient physicians, and completion of clinical questions focused on systems-based interventions to reduce fall risk.

A total of 39 students participated in two sessions. Ninety-seven percent of students were likely to change their clinical activities as a result of the session. Faculty facilitators cited the students' ability to effectively collaborate, identify risk factors for falls, and propose systems-based interventions to reduce falls risk. Seventy-eight percent of primary inpatient physicians planned to implement at least one of the IP team recommendations; 89% agreed that the IP team recommendations were helpful.

The activity was engaging for students and helped them achieve competency with fall risk assessment. Communication of the students' assessment to the primary medical team not only was useful to the primary team but also helped students understand how systems can affect patient care.