CEimpact Podcast

Fall Prevention Tips for Pharmacy Practice

Share episode

Falls are a leading cause of injury and death in older adults, and pharmacists are in a key position to help prevent them. This episode highlights how to identify medication risks, share practical prevention strategies, and connect patients with trusted tools and resources. Tune in to learn how you can make a meaningful impact in reducing falls in your community. 

HOST
Joshua Davis Kinsey, PharmD
VP, Education
CEimpact

GUEST
Kristin Meyer PharmD, BCGP, FASCP
Professor of Pharmacy Practice
Drake University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences

Joshua Davis Kinsey and Kristin Meyer have no relevant financial relationships to disclose. 

RESOURCES

Pharmacist Members, REDEEM YOUR CPE HERE!
 
Not a member? Get a Pharmacist Membership & earn CE for GameChangers Podcast episodes! (30 mins/episode)


CPE INFORMATION
Learning Objectives
Upon successful completion of this knowledge-based activity, participants should be able to:
1. Identify common medication classes and household hazards associated with increased fall risk in older adults.
2. Describe the pharmacist's role in fall prevention through medication review, patient education, and community engagement.

0.05 CEU/0.5 Hr
UAN: 0107-0000-25-269-H05-P
Initial release date: 9/8/2025
Expiration date: 9/8/2026
Additional CPE details can be found here.

Follow CEimpact on Social Media:
LinkedIn
Instagram

Speaker 1:

Hey, ce Impact subscribers, Welcome to the Game Changers Clinical Conversations podcast. I'm your host, josh Kinsey, and, as always, I'm excited about our conversation today. Falls are one of the most serious and preventable health risks facing older adults, yet they often go unaddressed in everyday care. In this episode, we'll talk about how pharmacists can help identify risks, educate patients and take simple steps that make a big difference in keeping patients safe and independent, and it's so great to have Kristen Meyer back as our guest for today's episode. Kristen welcome.

Speaker 2:

Thanks, Josh, so much Glad to be back.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. So for those of our listeners that haven't met you yet or haven't listened to one of your previous episodes, take just a couple of minutes, kristen, to tell us a little bit about yourself, and maybe your practice side, and why you're passionate about today's topic.

Speaker 2:

Sure Thanks. So I'm a pharmacy practice professor at Drake University's College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences in Des Moines, iowa, and for the last 25 years I've been engaged in geriatric pharmacy. So I serve patients and their caregivers and their providers just in a variety of settings assisted living, nursing home care, end of life care and just blessed to teach that in the classroom and with experiential students. And the reason why I'm here today is I wanted to talk about Fall Prevention Awareness Week. Falls are a big problem in our elderly population and I'm trying to do everything I can to increase awareness.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's great. When I was on academia, on faculty, prior to this role, a couple of my colleagues were heavily involved in the fall prevention and the study project and so forth, so I'm somewhat familiar. But honestly I'm excited about learning even more today because I don't ever think I fully grasped everything that was involved with it. So with that, thanks again for taking time out of your busy schedule and let's just roll right into talking about Fall Prevention Week. So tell us when it is this year and exactly kind of what it means, what it entails, the purpose of it and so forth.

Speaker 2:

Right, so this Fall Prevention Awareness Day is coincided with the first day of fall in September, and so yeah, so the week of September 22nd is designated as Fall Prevention Awareness Week. This is a nationwide campaign with resources largely provided by the National Council on Aging and I representing the Iowa Fall Prevention Coalition and doing all that I can to increase that awareness and provide education on fall prevention, great, and are there activities that are planned throughout this week like different things, like different things launch or something like that, or is it just go ahead?

Speaker 1:

you're shaking your head. So yeah, tell us, yeah, sure.

Speaker 2:

So we're still in the. You know, as this podcast is recorded a few months earlier than the actual event, we're still in the planning stages of many opportunities, but there is a fall prevention symposium that the Fall Prevention Coalition is sponsoring that week. It's all virtual for patients, caregivers and providers to log on and learn more about fall prevention awareness, but we're also just putting this information out here now to encourage other people to think about what they can do in their environments to improve and increase awareness, and so I've got lots of ideas today to share with people. No matter what setting you're in, you can do something and you can collaborate with a variety of different people and providers to increase awareness and improve people's safety.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's great. So there's obviously a reason why this gets its own week and its recognition and whatever. So I'm hesitant to learn about it because I think it's going to be dismal, but tell us what are some of the statistics associated with falls? Why is this week so important?

Speaker 2:

Right For older people. We're considering that greater than 65-year-old population, one in four folks will have a fall in that year and falling is the number one risk factor for having a fall. So having a history of falls puts you at great risk for having a future fall and in this older population then this is a great risk and increase for injury and hospitalization. So, as I kind of alluded to, this not only spans those of us who are in more like ambulatory care environments, but think about my friend who works in trauma. Most of the older people that she gets are, you know, head trauma and hip fractures from a fall.

Speaker 2:

So this really spans all of our practices and we're really focused on this older adult population and their increased risk for a variety of reasons. You know frailty, but also we're going to talk about medication use as well.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and that's what I was going to point out as well. You know you're touching on not just dam care, not just trauma. You know inpatient, but also community pharmacists community pharmacists as well, because you know, sometimes it is the medications that are contributing to the fall risk. And you know, just speaking from personal experience, three of my, the three grandparents that I still had growing up, all three of them experienced a fall which led to their eventual, pretty quick death, because one was a hip break and then she just never recovered. Another was it led to a cut which led to an infection which went septic. So you know, you're right, it's just now. They were older than 65, but still you know the risk is there and you know just the frailty of those patients the older they get, you know different things that are going on comorbidities and whatnot. So, yeah, it's super important and I really appreciate and I'm excited to learn more. So let's keep moving on.

Speaker 1:

So what type? What is a? Let's start with some of the things that pharmacists can do, right. So fall risk assessment, like, what does that look like? Is that something we can do? How difficult is that to? You know? Work into our normal workflow, things like that?

Speaker 2:

right. So, um, I highly recommend ncoa's fall risk assessment, the false free checkup. Yeah, I want to make sure I've got the name right, but the Falls Free Checkup is a 13-item survey. It can be self-administered. So I mean you can. Just you can print it up and have it as a pamphlet or you can administer it with a patient, so you know whatever works for you. So we've printed up these pamphlets and we've had them at health fairs, but you can also put it on an iPad. It's very interactive.

Speaker 2:

Again, it's 13 questions about their risk have they fallen? You know? What kinds of physical risk factors might they have? What kinds of medications do they take? It's not real specific. It's like do you take medicine to help you sleep? And we'll talk about some of the variety of medications that increase risk in a minute. So 13 questions. And then it shows them why that question matters and then it follows up with some recommendations, things that they can do to decrease their fall risk, some kind of non-specific. Some kind of nonspecific very general things for everyone, but also some it directs people to evidence-based fall prevention programs that may be offered in their area so that they can hook up with programs in their community to be able to, if they want to, you know, decrease their risk of falls and improve their stamina, their balance, their gait that they can seek out those programs.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so in addition to potential programs in the community, what other, I guess, like resources or answers, does it give back or suggestions of how to further reduce the risk?

Speaker 2:

Right, so it might say something like you know, ask questions about home hazards and then talk about the risk that throw rugs present. And so keep your walkways free of throw rugs. So that might be an example of something. Also, you know, if you take medicines to help you sleep, you know. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist about decreasing the use of medications that increase your fall risk. So it kind of just directs them down each of those pathways. Make sure that you have your vision checked.

Speaker 1:

Oh sure. So almost the impetus for each question that's asked there's like this is why we asked it, and here's how you can sort of rectify. Be on the lookout for this. Recommended practices to make it better. Here Got it.

Speaker 2:

Okay.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I love the idea of both you know, making that a pamphlet that's easy for you to just kind of hand off, and then also, like you said, making it available on an iPad or on a quick laptop that you can flip around to your patient in a counseling room or something. And it's just 13 questions, so it sounds like it would go fairly quickly. It's not like it's an hour long discussion that you have to have with the patient on this right.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely yeah, and you can just send the pamphlet with the patient. I've done that too. You know I'm like, hey, I'd like to talk to you about your fall risk. Well, now it's not a good time. We'll take this with you, and why don't you read it over and let's talk about it next time I see you. Yeah, yeah, you know and I'm, you know and you can you kind of know who your targets are in your practice.

Speaker 2:

You know be that person picking up a prescription for their sleep medication. It may be a person who's come in to see you after a fall.

Speaker 1:

I was going to say. It may be someone that you know have experienced falls already.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, Right yeah, there's no greater time, no greater motivation than to talk to a person about their fall risk after they've had a fall, than to talk to a person about their fall risk after they've had a fall. You know, and in fear of falling also a risk factor for falling and I've seen that you know a person might change their gait. Or I've had someone described to me, you know, I'm very careful Well with that you change your gait and you're not quite as balanced and steady and strong to maintain your balance.

Speaker 1:

Almost because of like a nervous expectation like you're yeah, interesting, very interesting. Okay, so we talked about this is something that pharmacists can easily do with their at-risk patients and a couple of ways in which that makes sense, whether it's, you know, in your workflow, ask them to step into your counseling room to talk about it, or scheduling an appointment with them, or sending it home with them. So you also mentioned a few things that it's going to recommend about, like ways to decrease falls, fall risks, but let's go into more opportunities that you know we can talk about with our patients to decrease the risk of falls. I know the list could go on and on and on, but let's just talk about a few of those, if you want.

Speaker 2:

Sure, yeah, and you're right. The list can go on and on, but some of the things I encourage folks to stay as active as possible and I don't want to be tone deaf and saying, hey, you know, do you need to increase your exercise, but you know more, phrasing it like, stay as active as you're able to or do as much as you're, you know, physically possible to, you know. Or if you want to increase your abilities and this is where the idea of collaboration comes in you know, suggest to them maybe going to physical therapy, you know. And then, from the medication standpoint, you know, looking at those opportunities to de-prescribe, I am reminded of it's pretty remote now, but it was just so impactful to me to think about this group in community pharmacy that researched just the impact of telling people and kind of emphasizing the risks of the benzodiazepines that they were taking. And there was more deprescribing of benzodiazepines in the group that learned about that risk.

Speaker 2:

So just reminding folks about their risk and you don't always need the medications that you always used to need and about their changing bodies. I mean, they're experiencing the changes and so it should be no shock to them that, as you're experiencing these changes, your kidneys are changing and you're not eliminating medicines as much as you used to, and so we need to think about do you always need what you used to need? And that's really where the pharmacist expertise comes in. But I also want to emphasize just making those connections as well and thinking about you know their physical health, their eye health, their you know safety, driving all of those different connections that need to be made with other healthcare providers in the community as well.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and then just some of the ones I see on here that I think are you know, you read it and you're like, well, that's common sense, but you know, again, calling it out to the patient sometimes makes a difference. So, like reducing alcohol intake, obviously that, can you know, impair your ability to move around in a steady way. Again, you mentioned earlier making sure that they continue to have their annual eye and hearing tests. Same with kind of bones making sure that we're keeping the bones strong. So scheduling any sort of tests that need to be done for that when they get of age to do so. If you need a walker or cane, use one. So making sure that we're taking any stigma away from that so that they're not seen, as you know, relying on something, a crutch or anything.

Speaker 1:

I love the wear the right shoes. I got onto my mom about this several times when she retired and started being at home more often. I was like you have diabetes and you can't have a foot injury and you've got to have solid shoes on because you can't slip. That would set you back months.

Speaker 2:

And not the shoes you just slide into. But well, now we've got these great new invention shoes right that you still have a back on them.

Speaker 1:

Yes.

Speaker 2:

You need to have a back.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah. So not not just comfy house shoes, because you know if you that actually would increase your risk, because they're so easy to come off and trip over. So yeah, but I think some of these again are just they're common sense when we sit and talk about them, but sometimes just calling it out to your patient can make a big difference. So I love that list and I love the fact that it's pretty much never ending.

Speaker 2:

We could sit here for hours and think of things yeah, on NCOA's website and we'll talk about CDC resources here in a minute great handouts that are patient friendly, but also some good stuff for communicating with other providers.

Speaker 1:

Oh, that's great. That's great, and you Made a segue perfectly. So let's jump right into CDC Steady. So tell us what CDC Steady is, what it stands for. It's an initiative, obviously, but let's talk a little bit about its beginning and who started it and what's overall purpose and all that good stuff.

Speaker 2:

Right. So Steady S-T-E-A-D-I staying alive and independent for life and I had to refer to my notes because I just steady is just in my common vernacular but launched by the CDC in 2013. There's just a plethora of resources and it's really kind of aimed at patients, but also family and professional caregivers and health professionals, but also family and professional caregivers and health professionals. So there's a variety of different screening and assessment and educational resources and recommended interventions, and so there's just a ton of stuff to unpack there, and the study resources have been used in a variety of different settings that I'm familiar with and, again, they're evidence-based and really just. So NCOA and CDC have partnered together for some of these resources, like the false free checkup assessment list.

Speaker 2:

And so the purpose is just, you know, decreasing the risk of falls in our older population. And again, just lots of great resources.

Speaker 1:

That's good, and for those of you that are simply listening to the episode and not sitting in front of a desk or something where you can write something down, I'm going to be sure that all of these call outs, cdc, study and NCOA, the different links and such are in the show notes. So be sure you take a minute when you're done listening to check out the show notes and you can get quick access to all of this information. So we mentioned earlier obviously we're we're pharmacists, so we're interested in the medication component of things, right? So you mentioned earlier that some medications we're very familiar. We should be very familiar with Beers List and some of the medications that we should be avoiding in our older patients. What are some of the ones that are typically kind of related to increasing the risk of falls? Like, what should we really be on the lookout for when we're looking at reducing the fall risk?

Speaker 2:

What should we really be on the lookout for when we're looking at reducing the fall risk? Sure, yeah, and these are not going to be of any surprise to most folks, but it's the medications that can affect the CNS and have CNS side effects, right? So I say, if any medication has an effect, it has a side effect. So these medications you know that affect the brain think anticonvulsants. These medications you know that affect the brain think anticonvulsants. And obviously, as with all of these medications, some of the older medications may not be or may be more risky, may be riskier than some of the newer versions of these medications.

Speaker 2:

Think antidepressants, so older antidepressants, very anticholinergic antidepressants like tricyclics much more risky than some of the newer SSRIs, but they are not without risk. Certainly, you know, these serotonergic medications dizziness can be a common side effect and drowsiness, and so we want to think about those things side effect and drowsiness and so we want to think about those things Also antipsychotics, benzodiazepines, opioid analgesics. We want to again employ just good patient care and practice and use the lowest doses for the shortest durations possible to help folks. So sedative hypnotics I would probably say save the best for last, because they're on my list of never, never, never, never, never use in older adults, and I think you and I went over this before.

Speaker 2:

you know, and I will say it again, there's not a good, safe sleep aid for older adults. We really need to focus on that non-farm stuff. So that's the first thing I pick on every time and really just talk about realistic sleep expectations and the downfalls of those sleep medications in older adults. So that's kind of the main list. There's also potentially some issues with blood pressure medicines, but it's really only when they push the blood pressure too low.

Speaker 1:

Sure, and I was also going to say potentially sorry I didn't mean to interrupt you but also potentially your diabetic patients, if they have a risk for hypoglycemia, you know. I know that that sometimes can be, yeah, yeah. So not something to obviously, you know, deprescribe or get rid of for a patient who's you know got high blood pressure or diabetes, but things to just be aware of with certain medications in that class too. Those classes too, yeah.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely, and you know, and really zeroing in on those ones that are cause a greater risk for hypoglycemia than others. So you know I, you know I pick on the sulfonylureas and insulin itself and you know we want to make sure that our folks are safe and people as they age they don't need as much, and so you really have to make sure. Preventing hypoglycemia is really one of the greatest goals of caring for older diabetes patients.

Speaker 1:

Yep, absolutely. And, again, a great avenue for pharmacists to be involved. That's a space that we know all about. We can be in that space. We can determine whether or not a medication needs to decrease or whether or not, you know, insulin is not as needed as it was previously. So and you get, you know, again, that's common sense. You're thinking about those patients oftentimes are reducing their overall body weight, you know, because of a decreased appetite and you know things like that. So, and not eating scheduled meals or at the right times, I know, you know that those are things that we have to look at as well. So, again, common sense. But it's good to call them out and just make sure that we're on the same page with that. So we've mentioned beers criteria. Obviously there's some overlap there. So a lot of those medications that you mentioned for falls risk those are a lot of the similar ones, if not all of them are on beers criteria, probably.

Speaker 2:

So anything else, yeah, it's an excellent resource Anything else to speak to. Yeah, beers is an excellent resource to just you know, educate yourself about the risky meds and also to learn you know. It gives more information about why they're risky and also when we think about not just identifying the pharmacist as the medication expert, not only identifying what's risky, but thinking about what may be a better alternative.

Speaker 1:

Sure Yep.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, don't identify a problem without offering a solution.

Speaker 1:

Exactly what's going to happen if I suggest to the provider to take them off of this. I need to have a response ready. So, yeah, great, great, call out. And if you're interested in learning more about Beers Criteria, be sure to go back and check out the episode that Kristen did with us a while back specifically on the topic. So be sure that that's something is a great complement to the discussion that we're having today as well, especially if it piques your interest and you want to be sure that you're checking all of your patients for fall risk.

Speaker 1:

So let's shift to again what we've already kind of talked about this a little bit, but just to reiterate our role as collaborators. So again, we know we're the medication experts, but our role also is often to collaborate with other providers and make sure that our suggestions, our ideas, our call-outs are carried through to fruition. So what are some of the things that we should let prescribers know in the process of identifying patients at risk? Or things that we should let prescribers know in the process of identifying patients at risk, or things that we think should happen to keep them, to keep their risk low.

Speaker 2:

Sure, yeah. So again I said, you know, don't offer, don't identify a problem without offering a solution. So think about you know, okay, this med is risky. So in collaboration with the patient, you know what could we do. That maybe decreases their risks. So could we decrease the dose? Are they willing to work to discontinuation? And sometimes that may, you know, require some tapering.

Speaker 2:

Most medications that happen to be psychotropic or the patient will have a better time and more success if they slowly taper off those medications rather than stopping them. Cold Turkey and um, we want to have a successful tapering and discontinuation. So reducing, stopping, switching, um, all of those things, um, would be things that you would have to collaborate with, not only the prescriber but the patient. If that patient's not buying in, it's not happening. And also, I might add, if I go to a prescriber and I say Mrs Smith is concerned about the number of medications she takes, mrs Smith had a fall and she would like to explore decreasing this medicine which can increase her risk for falls. Everybody wants to do what's best for Mrs Smith, so you're not going to have too much argument about that and trying to affect change if everybody's on board about doing what's best for Mrs Smith.

Speaker 1:

You can try to frame that with the patient in mind.

Speaker 1:

Exactly, and I think it boils down to again having a plan, not just saying this is ridiculous. The list is so long. Get rid of some stuff. You need to have a plan, suggest things, make suggestions for the switch. If you're saying one of these doesn't work anymore, you've got to have an option if it's something that they must be on a medication, in a class or similar class. So one of the things I want to jump into now is talking a little bit more.

Speaker 1:

Going back to, we briefly touched on the risk assessment that you were talking about and how it would suggest things and give you ideas about things to watch out for. We talked about wearing proper shoes and that kind of thing. What are some of the most common household hazards that, if we only have a second to talk with our patient about, we can say be aware of A, b, c and D. You know what are some of those things that you feel like are easy, easy call outs If they say I'm in a hurry, I don't have time to take your exam. You know, whatever, what are some of the things that we can quickly point out to them?

Speaker 2:

Right.

Speaker 2:

So yeah, I'll go over some things that kind of hit high on my list. I mentioned throw rugs. You know what other trip hazards exist in the house, in the house you've lived in for 60 years, you know, or more, or whatever. So do you have clutter? Do you have, you know, have clutter? Do you have? You know how do you, how quickly, or, let's see, confidently can you rise from your chair? I witnessed, I witnessed a loved one you know rocking back and forth in the rocking chair to kind of propel themselves out of that chair, and I thought when are you going to someday just propel yourself, like you know, out into the floor and you know, and face?

Speaker 1:

first yeah.

Speaker 2:

So, you know, asking them to think about. You know, how safe is your environment? Do you get up in the night and go to the bathroom? Is the, is the path well lit and free of hazards? Or do you have a clothes basket that you left in the, you know, in the, in the floor, in the floor, in the middle of the floor, because you, you know, just didn't get around to it?

Speaker 2:

Um, making sure that their furniture is functional? Um, you know, maybe they need some things to hold on to here and there, um, and that's okay. Um, making sure that, um, you know how is their bedroom set up? You know, for getting dressed and do they have a chair to lean on? Things like that, you know, and when I'm thinking about that stuff, I'm, you know, thinking about my OT friend in the back of my mind and you know, thinking about, okay, what would she say, what would she recommend? And you know, and acting as a conduit, really, you know to to maybe ask, you know, folks like, hey, do you think that you might benefit from someone coming in to help you identify some risks and some fixes in your home? And sometimes, many times, those assessments can be covered by Medicare. So you know, just in addition to identifying some things, but also helping people to connect with all the different resources that are available outside of medications and reducing that risk, but getting some other folks on board, so just being a connector.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I love that and you know one of the use. A personal story again it took a lot to convince my mom that it was time for some grab bars in the restroom and but once we did, after a couple of falls where she had not just a black eye but a black face from like half of her face was just a complete, just terrible bruise. And you know, we finally convinced her and now you know it's the best thing since sliced bread. You know she's got these bars, she loves them, they're the best thing. She's put them in every bathroom now. So you know again, these things are just super important to again have the conversation, bring it up and make sure that your patient is thinking about it. It may take some convincing, it may take a couple of times mentioning it, but a lot of these things, once they actually see them in action, will realize that it's strictly to benefit them.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and with a, it's a telling honor too much. But with an aging parent, you know I'm learning a lot about these things. You know things that you can travel with. If you're you know if your adult child drives one of those big SUVs, you know there's a handle that you can get that helps you get in and out. If you are traveling and the restroom is not equipped, you know you don't want to diminish your ability and your desire to travel, and so there are some portable things that are pretty inconspicuous that can be done to increase people's you know abilities and freedoms and safety.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, absolutely Love all of that, and freedoms and safety.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, absolutely Love all of that. Actually, josh, that's a good segue. I don't want to forget and leave out, you know we talked about our prescribing partners.

Speaker 2:

but and you know, and I've kind of alluded to, you know, occupational therapists, but you know when the pharmacist is working with people. I mean, think about all those different resources. So I want to call out, you know, the physical therapist, the occupational therapist for increasing, you know, gait, balance, strength and also home modifications, making sure that people have their vision checked regularly, referring them to podiatry if need be. You know, do they have foot abnormalities? You talked about diabetes. Do they have neuropathy? Maybe partnering with podiatrists, you know, do you offer shoe fittings in your pharmacy? And making sure that people get seen and evaluated but also taken good care of. And then our social work partners and different social agencies that can connect people with activities and healthy food. All of those things you know super helpful connections to me.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely, and if you're a longtime listener of the podcast, you've heard me say it many times before.

Speaker 1:

But think about community health workers and you know we know we have programs where our technicians can be, our pharmacy technicians, can be cross trained as community health workers and again, those are fantastic conduits to getting some of those resources in the community I was thinking about when you were saying, like you know, this might be covered or how do they get ahold of their OT or whatever. Like your CHW could be someone that really assists with that. So that's the first time you've heard about it. Do some research. We've got a lot of training at Sea Impact that we do on that in the catalog as well, a lot of courses on CHW. So another avenue that you could really tap into there. So we've said this, but I'm going to have you reiterate it when should we talk to patients about fall risk?

Speaker 2:

All the time, all the time. Yeah, with you know, with every new medication, with any refill, when you notice adherence issues and you know. And if you note new falls, any opportunity you know that I can find. You know, if a patient is expressing concerns with affordability of their medications, it's also an opportunity to deprescribe medications that may be risky. So, every single opportunity that you can to talk about folks, because it's really, I mean, for most people, if we're talking about one in four older adults, it's really not a question of if they will fall, but when they will fall, you know, and just mitigating all risk factors possible.

Speaker 1:

Yep, that's great. So we've talked about some resources. I'll review these again here, just briefly, but also reminding people, if you're listening, you can check out the links in the show notes. But CDC and Steady, ncoa you mentioned the Falls Free Initiative and the risk assessment You've already talked about again. There may be opportunities in your community. So dig around in your communities, find other opportunities there. What if our patients wanted resources? Are there patient-specific resources that we can share back? Obviously, we're going to be the ones using CDC and NCOA and things like that, but what could we share with our patients if they wanted some specific resources?

Speaker 2:

Right, yeah, and you have to dig around a little bit and find out what's available in your community, but certainly the idea comes to mind. Certainly the idea comes to mind. You know CDC should be able to link you to those community programs that are evidence-based so there are two evidence-based programs out of CDC, maybe three. Actually Stepping On and Walking with Ease also Matter of balance, so there's a variety of different approaches that they use all to educate people and you know, help them get their strength, you know, and decrease their fall risk.

Speaker 2:

There's also so and I say this a lot often as well you know, the number one thing you can do to prevent falls is to just be stronger increase your strength and your balance, your core.

Speaker 2:

So there's a specific Tai Chi, tai Chi for arthritis. So it's gentle, you know, smooth, purposeful movements, and there are instructors that are specifically, you know, trained to do this with older adults. So Tai Chi for arthritis is is an evidence based program to decrease fall risk and so it's not, it's a gentle workout. You know, I heard somebody talking about it the other day and they're like, not the kind that makes you hurt. You know that's not what we're doing. This is, um, just to increase movement and balance and things. So another great program. And also, as you know, I talked about collaborating with professionals. Think about what else in your community is available. So, looking at your area agencies on aging, what are are?

Speaker 2:

the resources available, thinking about senior centers and referring people for things like Meals on Wheels. What are the local resources in your faith-based organizations? I'm aware of something in my hometown where gals get together and it's a on, you know, wednesday mornings. It's a social opportunity, but it's also chair. I don't know it's, it's a chair workout, so it's it's simple and easy, but also increasing strength and socialization. You know, what are your local home and housing services?

Speaker 2:

There might be, free home modifications that people can get, transportation organizations and other volunteer organizations that want to help older folks. So there's just a variety of resources and once you get to looking you'll see what's available in your community and make those connections.

Speaker 1:

But yeah, lots of great resources out there.

Speaker 1:

That's great. Well, as we're winding down, I want to review what pharmacists can do and should do and, of course, first and foremost, look at the patient's medications, do some reviews, check for deprescribing, check for things that can be switched so that they're at a lesser risk. You can also have the discussions with patients to talk about decreasing fall risk things that they can at a lesser risk. You can also have the discussions with patients to talk about decreasing fall risk things that they can do around the house. You can spread the word through pamphlets and handouts. And assigning I keep saying assigning or giving them the exam but the assessment we'll call it. I get anxious with pop quizzes or mentions, so we won't call it that. And then again, as you mentioned, making sure that you're connected to your community, making sure that you're aware of the resources and things that you have for your patients.

Speaker 1:

So, so much that pharmacists can do. Kristen, what is the last thing I'll ask you? What do you think is the game changer here? Like, what is our absolute take home point as pharmacists in this space?

Speaker 2:

Yeah. So I just encourage everybody out there to take advantage of all the opportunities in September, especially the week of September 22nd, fall Prevention Awareness Week to engage with your patients you know, offering assessments, offering education, offering encouragement. Engage with other providers. Think about someone new that you can partner with that you maybe you haven't partnered with before to educate them and to let them know that you're a resource and a trusted resource when it comes to medication questions and then send people to them when they need to be referred and engage with your community. Use those resources and education. Maybe you know if you're in a community pharmacy, maybe it's a bag stuffer. If you are in hospital pharmacy, you know I've taken some education pieces to my friends in the hospital. They've put them in waiting rooms. You know they've given them to their social workers that work with people who've had trauma.

Speaker 2:

There are just a variety of things that you can do to engage with patients and other providers in the community, and there's never been a better time to do it than September.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I love that and that. You know one thing I thought of it's more towards, probably, amcare and community practice sites, but you know you could have a little health fair on one of the days of the week fall prevention where you bring OT and PT and you bring people there, because a lot of times it's a matter of I don't know how to make the connection or I don't know where to go or you know whatever, and so if you're bringing it to them and having kind of an event at the store or at your practice site, just another way to kind of make that more available and more, you know, face forward for the patient. So Absolutely, yeah, well, this is super great. Kristen, Thank you so much for giving of your time and again reminding everyone to be sure that you are. I guess celebrating is the right word. We should celebrate it, we should promote it.

Speaker 1:

But Fall Prevention Week September 20th, the week of September 22nd. So again thanks, kristen. We really appreciate you giving of your time today. Thank you. If you're a CE Plan subscriber, be sure to claim your CE credit for this episode of Game Changers by logging in at CEimpactcom and, as always, have a great week and keep learning. I can't wait to dig into another game changing topic with you all next week.