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

Abstract

Introduction 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. Methods 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. Results 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. Discussion 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.

Fostering Interprofessional Geriatric Patient Care Skills for Health Professions Students Through a Nursing Facility–Based Immersion Rotation

“… Instruction: Course cofacilitators taught about falls (epidemiology, risk factors, history and exam, risk prevention; Appendix G ) based on the GeriWard Falls curriculum but modified its content to focus on older adults residing in SNFs rather than inpatient wards. 17 Formal teaching occurred in the morning during week 1 of the rotation so students could complete their fall assessments and plan construction in the afternoon. Activities: Students had 2–3 hours for fall evaluation and prevention plan completion.…”

“… Multimodal assessment of the student team's presentation and meeting participation: The assessments were based on materials from the GeriWard Falls curriculum. 17 (1) Fall Focus team members completed a four-question 5-point Likert scale: the Fall Focus Team Assessment ( Appendix I ). (2) The patient's primary attending completed a six-question 5-point Likert scale: the Attending Assessment of Team Fall Recommendations ( Appendix J ).…”

“…Students completed two activity evaluations based on those from GeriWard Falls and consisting of five to six Likert-scale survey questions and two to three short-answer questions addressing the care planning and fall prevention activities ( Appendices N and O ). 17 …”

Geriatric Assessment in a Primary Care Environment: A Standardized Patient Case Activity for Interprofessional Students

“…However, preexisting cases tend to focus on very specific aspects of geriatric medicine (e.g., unintentional weight loss, fall risk, and oral health care) or involve limited interprofessional interactions. [10][11][12][13][14][15][16] However, our scenario differs by incorporating health professions students from seven different areas of health care and, in doing so, offers a broad, comprehensive overview of geriatric care.…”

Unintentional Weight Loss in Older Adults: A Geriatric Interprofessional Simulation Case Series for Health Care Providers

“…16–20 Additionally, many studies tackle interprofessional geriatric team-based curricula without use of simulation-based learning. 21–23 One curriculum in particular was developed to encourage interprofessional consideration of oral health in older adults. 24 However, no studies we encountered—simulation-based, interprofessional, or otherwise—considered unintentional weight loss in older adults.…”