GAPcare: the Geriatric Acute and Post-acute Fall Prevention Intervention—a pilot investigation of an emergency department-based fall prevention program for community-dwelling older adults

BACKGROUND: Falls are the leading cause of fatal and non-fatal injuries among older adults. Older emergency department (ED) patients who present for evaluations after falls have a 30% higher risk of falling again in the subsequent 6 months than age-matched controls. Although EDs frequently evaluate older adults after their falls, the typical evaluation consists of an injury assessment alone. As such, an opportunity is lost to assess and address the potential causes of falls in this vulnerable population. In this manuscript, we present a multidisciplinary fall prevention protocol for a pilot study of older adult ED patients who recently sustained a fall (GAPcare: the Geriatric Acute and Post-acute Fall Prevention Intervention). METHODS: GAPcare is a randomized single-blinded pilot study. Participants in GAPcare are 120 older adults (≥ 65 years old) who present to 1 of 2 academic US EDs after a fall. We randomly assign participants 1:1 to an intervention or a usual care (control) arm. In the intervention arm, the patient’s ED physician, a pharmacist, and a physical therapist (PT) collaborate to identify and address any risk factors that may have contributed to the fall. Intervention arm participants and their caregivers return home with a medication-related action plan to taper or stop potentially inappropriate medications and to address polypharmacy and a PT assessment and plan. Participants in the usual care arm receive standard assessments and care in the ED and a home safety brochure. Participants in both study arms complete fall calendars for 6 months to document the number of falls and healthcare visits during follow-up. The primary outcome is feasibility of the GAPcare fall prevention intervention (number and proportion of screened participants who are eligible, recruited, and retained; impact on ED length of stay), while the secondary outcome is to estimate its initial efficacy. DISCUSSION: The GAPcare-ED fall prevention intervention has the potential to promote older adult-sensitive care for millions of Americans presenting to EDs after falls and establish a protocol for a future large-scale randomized controlled trial on this topic. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03360305. Trial registration date: December 4, 2017. Protocol version: 1