GAPcare: The Geriatric Acute and Post-Acute Fall Prevention Intervention in the Emergency Department: Preliminary...

We aimed to describe a new multidisciplinary team fall prevention intervention for older adults who seek care in the emergency department (ED) after having a fall, assess its feasibility and acceptability, and review lessons learned during its initiation.

Single-blind randomized controlled pilot study.

Two urban academic EDs PARTICIPANTS: Adults 65 years old or older (n = 110) who presented to the ED within 7 days of a fall.

Participants were randomized to a usual care (UC) and an intervention (INT) arm. Participants in the INT arm received a brief medication therapy management session delivered by a pharmacist and a fall risk assessment and plan by a physical therapist (PT). INT participants received referrals to outpatient services (eg, home safety evaluation, outpatient PT).

We used participant, caregiver, and clinician surveys, as well as electronic health record review, to assess the feasibility and acceptability of the intervention.

Of the 110 participants, the median participant age was 81 years old, 67% were female, 94% were white, and 16.3% had cognitive impairment. Of the 55 in the INT arm, all but one participant received the pharmacy consult (98.2%); the PT consult was delivered to 83.6%. Median consult time was 20 minutes for pharmacy and 20 minutes for PT. ED length of stay was not increased in the INT arm: UC 5.25 hours vs INT 5.0 hours (P < .94). After receiving the Geriatric Acute and Post-acute Fall Prevention Intervention (GAPcare), 100% of participants and 97.6% of clinicians recommended the pharmacy consult, and 95% of participants and 95.8% of clinicians recommended the PT consult.

These findings support the feasibility and acceptability of the GAPcare model in the ED. A future larger randomized controlled trial is planned to determine whether GAPcare can reduce recurrent falls and healthcare visits in older adults. J Am Geriatr Soc 68:198-206, 2019.