Identifying, preventing, and managing Falls for Care Homes and other healthcare providers
‘React To’ is a series of training resources developed by healthcare professionals. Although aimed at care home staff, these resources are also relevant to other carers and healthcare professionals.
This week HCPA will be focusing on Falls and explains the risk factors you can react to, how to reduce the risk of falling, and the best actions you can take to reduce the risk of falls of an individual which is tailored specifically to them. If you are interested in upskilling yourself, or your team, browse our comprehensive StopFalls training by clicking here.
This training resource consists of five parts with accompanying documents to view or download.
Part 1: What is a fall and why is it important to prevent falls?
Part 2: Why do residents fall and what are the risks?
Part 3: Reducing the risk of falls
Part 4: What should you be doing to react to falls?
Part 5: Managing behaviour to reduce falls
Downloadable Resources:
HCPA’s StopFalls App- an innovative approach to reducing falls through exercises, assessments and prevention techniques
We have created and launched the StopFalls App in conjunction with our StopFalls Campaign, which commenced in January 2018. The StopFalls app is the first one-stop-shop for all important falls resources that can be used by anyone; whether carer, cared for or family. It is designed to reduce the risk of falls through exercise programmes, identify falls risk factors, and offers effortless falls risk assessments.
Funded by Hertfordshire County Council (HCC), the StopFalls app is an easy-to-use app that boasts flawless in-app navigation for the seamless use of resources, a modern and simplistic colour design, and intuitive user interaction that is designed to be easily used by both the young and the young-at-heart.
With a sharp increase in the number of falls experienced by those aged over 65 in the last 20 years, the StopFalls app intelligently explains the risks, reasons and reactions to falls and offers practical solutions to help prevent or mitigate the risk of falls.
As falls can lead to serious, long-term issues that require increased social and health care needs for a person for the rest of their lives, the StopFalls app offers a variety of low-intensity exercises and other preventive techniques that can be implemented by the user in the comfort of their home. For instance, there are 6 simple exercises that can be done at home and come with instructional videos, which incorporates the use of chairs and focuses on improving one’s strength and balance for mobility.
These exercises are designed to not only improve an individual’s strength and reduce their likelihood of having a fall but also improve one’s knowledge and care strategies through prevention and intervention tips that the app has to offer.
To further round out the comprehensive Fall Prevention and Intervention approach, there are several easy-to-administer self-assessments, such as the Interactive FRAT assessment explained below:
- The Interactive FRAT assessment is a quick & easy tool to assess an individual’s falls risk and is completed by individuals in their own home or by professional care staff of families for a loved one.
The StopFalls app is now available across all platforms including Android, Windows and Apple’s iOS.
For more information on the StopFalls app or StopFalls Education & Training, click here.