Identifying the key characteristics of falls management programmes in UK care homes - A scoping review of grey literature

Trial literature on falls management in care homes may provide limited detail on current practice and instead this information may be found in grey literature. This scoping review aimed to identify the key characteristics of current falls management programmes for UK care homes identified from the grey literature. A scoping review was conducted and evidence sources were included if they were targeted at UK care homes for older people and included any component of falls management (assessment, intervention, training). Search activities included searches of electronic databases, professional websites and contacting care homes for current examples. The principles of intervention component analysis were conducted to describe the features of falls management. Forty-eight evidence sources were included (17 online resources, 10 online articles, 9 policies and standards and 12 examples provided by individual care homes). 67 themes were identified under eight domains. The core domains detailed the characteristics of Assessment, Interventions and Training. The approach taken to managing falls was an overarching domain, with supporting domains including how to report and monitor falls, when to complete assessments and interventions, governance and accountability, and involvement of the wider healthcare system.