GAPcare: The Geriatric Acute and Post‐Acute Fall Prevention Intervention in the Emergency Department: Preliminary Data

OBJECTIVES We aimed to describe a new multidisciplinary team fall prevention intervention for older adults who seek care in the emergency department (ED) after having a fall, assess its feasibility and acceptability, and review lessons learned during its initiation. DESIGN Single‐blind randomized controlled pilot study. SETTING Two urban academic EDs PARTICIPANTS Adults 65 years old or older (n = 110) who presented to the ED within 7 days of a fall. INTERVENTION Participants were randomized to a usual care (UC) and an intervention (INT) arm. Participants in the INT arm received a brief medication therapy management session delivered by a pharmacist and a fall risk assessment and plan by a physical therapist (PT). INT participants received referrals to outpatient services (eg, home safety evaluation, outpatient PT). MEASUREMENTS We used participant, caregiver, and clinician surveys, as well as electronic health record review, to assess the feasibility and acceptability of the intervention. RESULTS Of the 110 participants, the median participant age was 81 years old, 67% were female, 94% were white, and 16.3% had cognitive impairment. Of the 55 in the INT arm, all but one participant received the pharmacy consult (98.2%); the PT consult was delivered to 83.6%. Median consult time was 20 minutes for pharmacy and 20 minutes for PT. ED length of stay was not increased in the INT arm: UC 5.25 hours vs INT 5.0 hours (P