In the ED setting, elderly patients who present with falls can be risk stratified to deter-mine who needs further investigation, admission to ward or CARS review.
Falls in elderly people can be multifactorial and they need a lot of PT/OT/Social services in-put and confidence build up. This may not be met in a day or two leading to patients stay in the hospital for prolonged periods whilst having ongoing input from various therapies at the same time being exposed to infection, further risk of fall in an unfamiliar environment.
Patients with reasonable help at home or those who have been reviewed by CARS team and safe for discharge can be sent home and reviewed in O/P Falls clinic where a multidisciplinary approach towards a long term management can be done.
GP’s should be able to refer patients as well.
Patients can be triaged to syncope clinic to avoid any delays and unnecessary ad-missions so as to undergo appropriate tests.
