eFit – HCP: Falls & Mobility

A fall is a sudden and unintentional change in position resulting in an individual landing at a lower level such as on an object, the floor, or the ground, with or without injury. (1)

Mobility is broadly defined as the ability to move oneself (e.g. by walking, by using assistive devices or by using transportation) within community environments that expand from one’s home to the neighborhood and to regions beyond.

Mobility is fundamental to active aging and is intimately linked to health status and quality of life. Although there is widespread acceptance regarding the importance of mobility in older adults, there have been few attempts to comprehensively portray mobility, and research has to a large extent been discipline-specific. The concept of mobility is portrayed through 5 fundamental categories of determinants (cognitive, psychosocial, physical, environmental and financial), with gender, culture and biography (personal life history) conceptualized as critical crosscutting influences. (2)

 

6 Minute Walk Test (SMWT):
Link (Instructions Included)

10 Metre Walk Test:
Link (Instructions included)

30-Second Chair Stand: 
Instructions    Link

Barthel Index:
Instructions    eForm    Print Form

Berg Balance Scale:
Link (Instructions included)

Fatigue Risk Assessment Tool:
Link

Frail Non-Disabled (FiND) Questionnaire:
Instructions    eForm    Print Form

Gait Speed:
Link (Instructions included)

Hand Grip:
Link (Instructions included)

SARC-F Screening Tool:
Link (Instructions included)

Short Physical Performance Battery:
Link (Instructions included)

Timed Up and Go (TUG):
Link (Instructions included)

Fall Management Guidelines (Health Care Association of New Jersey):
Guideline
Preventing Falls and Reducing Injury from Falls (Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario):
Guideline
Prevention of Falls and Fall Injuries in the Older Adult (Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario):
Guideline
Resource Guide on Falls Prevention: For Clients and Family Caregivers (Canadian Patient Safety Institute):
Guide
Senior Friendly 7: Mobility Toolkit (Regional Geriatric Program of Toronto):
Toolkit

Reading List: Falls & Older Adults
Reading List: Mobility in Later Life

The Use of Restraints and Excited Delirium or Positional Asphyxia: A Review of the Safety and Guidelines (Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health):
Report

View the CSAH Lesson on Falls & Mobility


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This series of courses provides a foundation for understanding, recognizing, assessing and managing health care concerns in the older adult.  Each Lesson includes short narrated modules that focus on these four themes.

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