Through assessment, we have found several areas of fall risk in a patient. However, now we are needing a game plan on what to do. In many instances, protocol within a facility or organization will rely heavily on the matrix of data that the assessment produces, but lacks guidance on the intervention pieces. You may have a "Low Fall Risk Protocol" or a "High Fall Risk Protocol" but what does that do for the individual patient's SPECIFIC needs?
In a systematic review published in 2021, it was identified the importance of risk stratification assessment tools (a multifactorial screening + assessment program such as Safe Balance for instance) to create a unique profile of the specific patient's current condition. With this information, evidence-based interventions specific to the needs and functionality of the patient should be introduced. This includes both clinical and non-clinical resources. In the article, clinical practice guidelines generally recommended multifactorial interventions, including exercise programs, referrals to physical therapy, footwear analysis, medication reviews, and environmental modifications, to prevent falls.
This review highlights the need for healthcare professionals to critically appraise programs before implementing them in practice and compare their capability to what evidence is supporting. Clinicians should consider the quality of the CPG, the specific recommendations, and the applicability to their patient population.
While enacting general fall prevention protocols has some merit, it leads to losses in efficiency, expending resources for areas of risk that do not exist, and a lack of direct application to the patient's specific needs. Using the multifactorial intervention pathways provided in Safe Balance allows for the provider and medical staff to directly attack the risk factors one-by-one as they appear in a speedy, efficient manner.
With Safe Balance, the software's proprietary algorithm will identify the need for certain clinical services or specialties. It will also provide non-clinical resources to the patient (home safety, videos, etc) to enact when the patient is in their home environment. This unique blend of interventional management of fall risk factors leads to the Safe Balance program being successful in every environment that we operate in!
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