Fall prevention in nursing homes

Abstract

The incidence of falls and fall-related injuries such as hip fractures remains high in nursing homes (NHs) across the world. Randomized controlled trials have shown that interventions that combine multiple components such as progressive exercise, medication review, and improvements in the person-environment fit and delivered by multidisciplinary teams can effectively reduce the number of falls and fallers. Vitamin D supplementation in adequate dosage is another effective method to reduce the burden of injuries in NHs. Single interventions such as exercise alone or insufficient organizational support are reasons for failure or even harmful consequences. Large-scale efforts are needed and justified to translate these findings into meaningful results.