Preventing Falls Across Therapy Settings (Recorded Webinar)

Presented by Scott N. LaRaus, William Dieter, and Amanda Petrone

Preventing Falls Across Therapy Settings (Recorded Webinar)

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Video Runtime: 176 Minutes, Learning Assessments: 40 Minutes

Falls continue to be an issue throughout all areas of therapy and can occur anywhere, including the community, the outpatient setting, and the hospital setting. Despite barriers such as therapist time constraints, patient caseload increases, and ever-changing patient acuity, it is critical to address falls. This webinar will discuss the three different areas of physical therapy practice and how falls can be addressed in order to combat this problem.

Meet your instructors

Scott N. LaRaus

Dr. LaRaus is a 1992 graduate of Hunter College’s Physical Therapy Program in New York. He obtained his postprofessional Doctorate of Physical Therapy at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in May 2008. He started out his career developing and implementing the University of Medicine and Dentistry’s…

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William Dieter

Dr. Dieter received his doctorate in physical therapy (DPT) from Thomas Jefferson University in 2011. He has been the director of PT clinical services at FOX Rehabilitation since 2014. He more recently became the director of the FOX Geriatric Residency in Physical Therapy, from which he graduated in 2013 and obtained his…

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Amanda Petrone

Amanda Petrone is a credentialed McKenzie physical therapist at CentraState Medical Center in Freehold, New Jersey. From the start of her career, Dr. Petrone has honed her skills in the realm of spine care. She has also placed a focus on falls assessment and prevention, with specialization in treating individuals with…

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Chapters & learning objectives

Falls in the Acute Care Setting: Background

1. Falls in the Acute Care Setting: Background

This chapter will explain the rationale for reviewing falls as a potential problem in the acute care setting, as well as how to review the data to assist with managing this potential problem.

Hospital Challenges

2. Hospital Challenges

This chapter reviews the demands on acute care practitioners and how to contend with time constraints when choosing the appropriate functional test.

The Tests

3. The Tests

Acute care practitioners have to contend with decreased stays, increased patient acuity, and increased caseloads. This chapter discusses the pros and cons of various functional assessments and the importance of taking a multidisciplinary approach to fall prevention.

Assessment of Fall Risk in the Home Setting

4. Assessment of Fall Risk in the Home Setting

This chapter covers assessment of fall risk including screening, non-FOM assessments, gait analysis, posture, fear of falling, and FOMs basics.

Home-Based Falls Interventions

5. Home-Based Falls Interventions

This chapter covers falls intervention including relative risk assessment, motor learning, task specificity, strengthening, and HEP and community programs for older adults.

Real-Life Application

6. Real-Life Application

This chapter applies assessment and intervention concepts to real-life scenarios. This includes scenarios involving COVID-19, situations with limited time, the use of risk-stratification tools, the use of HIIT, and mobile apps.

Assessment of Falls Risk in the Outpatient Therapy Setting 

7. Assessment of Falls Risk in the Outpatient Therapy Setting 

This chapter details the components of a comprehensive falls risk assessment for older adults as well as how to prioritize particular tests and measures in the presence of time constraints.

Intervention for Falls Reduction and Prevention in the Outpatient Therapy Setting 

8. Intervention for Falls Reduction and Prevention in the Outpatient Therapy Setting 

This chapter reviews evidence for falls prevention in older adults as well as key concepts to consider when developing a plan of care. Topics include use of progressive overload for strength gains, motor learning concepts to enhance lasting changes in function, modes of dynamic balance training, and use of dual-task training to reduce falls and improve function in a meaningful way.

Question and Answer Session

9. Question and Answer Session

The course concludes with a question and answer session with Dr. LaRaus, Dr. Dieter, and Dr. Walker.