Effectiveness of the Montpellier Falls Clinic in Preventing InjuRiEs (EMPIRE)

University Hospital Center (CHU)

Status: Completed

Conditions: Falls

Treatments: Procedure: Multidisciplinary fall risk and geriatric comprehensive assessment

Study type: Observational

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT03737487

RECHMPL18_0393

Details and patient eligibility

About

A falls prevention clinic opened in Montpellier (France) in 2015. The objective of the project is to evaluate whether the tailored multifactorial programme delivered in this real practice setting by a geriatrician, a podiatrist, a physiotherapist, and a occupational therapist would help prevent injuries in high-risk older patients using a 6-month pre-post intervention analysis.

Full description

The Montpellier falls prevention clinic is a referral-based clinic specialized in the prevention of falls and fractures among patients aged 65+ (http://www.chu-montpellier.fr/fr/crepc/). The FPC that opened in 2015 is a member of the European Commission in its European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (EIP on AHA) A2 action plan. The main mission of the clinic is to identify the underlying causes of the patients' falls, and to address modifiable risk factors in collaboration with family physicians in order to prevent injurious falls.

Based on a geriatric assessment performed by a geriatrician, a podologist, a occupational therapist, and a physiotherapist, the likely diagnoses and recommendations are notified in the medical report that is handed over to the patient or the caregiver for the patient's GP, along with the prescriptions, and sent also by mail to the GP. Recommendations remain under the GP's control with the possibility of another consultation if needed.

All patients admitted to the FPC are reassessed by phone at 3 months to register falls and injuries, and at 6 months to register falls and injuries, assess fear of falling, mobility and ability to perform activities of daily living, and satisfaction for the programme, and list proposed measures effectively applied.

Enrollment: 160 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 65+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

All patients aged 65 or older with a history in the previous year of recurrent falls, or of a fall associated with a balance, gait, or muscle strength problem referred to the Montpellier falls prevention clinic

Exclusion criteria

• patients unable to walk 3 metres with or without an assistive device
• patients expected to live for less than 6 months based on the geriatricians' expert opinion