GAPcare: The Geriatric Acute & Post-acute Care Coordination Program for Fall Prevention in the Emergency Department (GAPcare)

Falls are the leading cause of fatal and non-fatal injury among older adults. EDs frequently evaluate older adults after their falls, but the typical evaluation consists of an injury assessment alone. There is a critical need for an ED-based intervention that addresses reasons for the fall and provides on-the-spot assessment and guidance to prevent subsequent falls. Failure to prevent subsequent falls will result in increased morbidity, mortality, healthcare utilization, loss of independence, and rising health care costs as the population of older adults increases.

Participants in GAPcare will be older adults (≥65 years-old) who present to the ED for a fall. We will pursue the following specific aims to test and further refine the GAPcare intervention: (1) Examine the feasibility of recruitment and retention of eligible patients into the GAPcare intervention, (2) determine the initial efficacy of the GAPcare intervention in reducing subsequent falls and healthcare utilization at 6 months. Our long-term goal is to prevent the early morbidity and mortality of older adults who present to the ED after a fall. The overall objective of this survey is to gather preliminary data on the feasibility of an ED based fall prevention project.