Effectiveness of an Automated Falls-Risk Screening and Referral Tool in the Emergency Department (ED)

ConditionFalls-Risk
Trial statusRecruiting
Trial phaseNot listed
Trial typeObservational
Biological sexAll
Age65+
SponsorUniversity of Wisconsin, Madison

About this trial

The purpose of this retrospective cohort study is to evaluate the effectiveness of an EHR-based clinical decision support system (CDS) for automatically screening older adult ED patients for risk of future falls and providing ED clinicians opportunity to place referrals orders to the UW Health Mobility and Falls Clinic for those at highest risk prior to discharge.

This CDS tool has already been implemented at the UW Hospital ED, and as a QI initiative will be implemented in a staged process at two other UW Health-affiliated emergency departments (The American Center and Swedish American Hospital).

Eligibility criteria

This trial does not accept healthy volunteers

Qualifiers

ED patients 65 years or older

discharged from the ED (not admitted)

Disqualifiers

None

Trial population

ED patients age 65 or older who are not admitted.

Trial design

Design model

Other

Time perspective

Retrospective

Treatments tested in this trial

  • Falls-Risk Clinical Decision Support (CDS) Tool

    Other intervention

    CDS in the Electronic Health Record (EHR) to screen patients at high-risk for future falls enabling referrals to the UW Health Mobility and Falls clinic.

Treatment groups

30,000 Participants
are divided into 2 treatment groups
Group A: Discharged ED Patients prior to Intervention0 interventions
Group B: Discharged ED Patients after Intervention1 intervention

Trial outcomes

Primary outcomes

1

Number of Falls and Fall-Related Injuries

Comparison of data before and after implementation of CDS tool and before and after ED visit.

Time frame
during the period 12 months prior to ED visit to 6 months post ED visit (18 month period)

Secondary outcomes

1

Summary of Reasons Patients Did Not Schedule or Attend Appointments Based on Referral

Implementation outcome

Time frame
during the period 12 months prior to ED visit to 6 months post ED visit (18 month period)
2

Percentage of Referred Patients Reached by Clinic Scheduler

Time frame
during the period 12 months prior to ED visit to 6 months post ED visit (18 month period)
3

Percentage of Referred Patients Who Made Clinic Appointments

Time frame
during the period 12 months prior to ED visit to 6 months post ED visit (18 month period)

Other outcomes

Sponsors and contacts

Click on the lead sponsor to view all of their trials.

University of Wisconsin, Madison

Lead sponsor

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)

Collaborator