Gero Nurse Prep prepares RNs for the ANCC Board Certification exam in gerontological nursing and increases geriatric nurse competency by 24% based on pre- and post-course test scores. Visit with Dr. Heidi Keeler at booth 1724 to learn how Gero Nurse Prep can help strengthen your clinical performance and increase reimbursements.
Falls are the leading cause of injury related emergency department visits for older adults, the major cause of hip fractures, and responsible for more than half of fatal head injuries. Numerous states and countries worldwide are now coalescing to address this growing public health issue; many are working closely with occupational therapy practitioners as key contributors to reducing falls.
This year’s theme, Take a Stand to Prevent Falls, seeks to unite professionals, older adults, caregivers, and family members to play a part in raising awareness and preventing falls in the older adult population. 48 states participated in Falls Prevention Awareness Day last year, joining more than 70 national organizations, including the American Occupational Therapy Association, other professional associations, and federal agencies that comprise the Falls Free© Initiative. If your organization participates in a falls prevention activity, please email fallsfree@ncoa.org to make sure you are counted by NCOA.
For a list of free resources, including the Falls Prevention Toolkit, go to
This New Directions in Healthcare podcast reports on what some public health officials are calling a plague of loneliness and its medical consequences.
By Anna Chodos and William A. Haseltine
Our healthcare system needs to rethink how we care for older adults. Older adults have more complex needs than other populations, but they struggle to meet those needs within and across all care settings — from home to clinics to hospitals and long-term care facilities and back home again. Part of this is due to the medical and social complexity of older adults and their more frequent transitions, compared to other age groups, between healthcare settings. Despite our current ecosystem of electronic health records and quality measurement, the often frustrating reality is that much of what is important to older people is rarely captured in the data, such as quality of life, function and goals. One program alone will not fix this.
Enter the Age-Friendly Health System. Led by some of the best in aging and healthcare improvement, such as the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and the John A Hartford Foundation, the Age-Friendly Health System is changing what it means to “age in America” with regard to healthcare. The Age-Friendly Health System describes itself as a movement to recruit and support entire healthcare systems to focus on the domains most important to quality healthcare for older people. These include the “4Ms”: mobility, medications, mentation, and what matters. This means making sure older people have a mobility plan when receiving medical care or in long term care; reviewing medications regularly to minimize harm; addressing conditions that affect thinking and are common in older people such as dementia, depression and delirium; and incorporating what matter to the person, such as their values, goals and preferences, into all care plans.
For the full article and references please go to:
On February 20, 2018 NPUAP offered a free webinar presented by Scott Matthew Bolhack, MD, MBA, CMD, CWS, FACP, FAAP and Janet Cuddigan, PhD, RN, CWCN, FAAN and moderated by Joyce A. Pittman, PhD, ANP-BC, FNP-BC, CWOCN.
Dr. Bolhack’s and Dr. Cuddigans’s webinar, titled Frequently Asked Questions About Pressure Injury Staging is now available for viewing on the NPUAP website. Handouts and course information are also available.
To access this and other complimentary webinars, go to http://www.npuap.org/resources/educational-and-clinical-resources/complimentary-educational-webinars/
APDM Wearable Technologies has been awarded a National Institute on Aging SBIR Phase II grant totaling $1.6 million to commercialize a real-time biofeedback system. With this funding, APDM will develop the industry’s first over-ground gait biofeedback rehabilitation system utilizing both visual and auditory biofeedback so patients can rehabilitate in a real-world setting, according to a recent press release.
Existing technology like instrumented treadmills have an entry price of $80,000, restrict patients to straight walking at a fixed speed, and alter biomechanics in a way that does not translate back to daily activity. Not only will this novel biofeedback system be a fraction of the cost, but patients will be able to walk in diverse, real-world settings at a self-selected pace, which is crucial for re-training gait for sustained results.
Over 300 patients with various types of gait disturbances will be recruited for a clinical trial to evaluate the effectiveness of the biofeedback system in a physical therapy clinic. Northwest Rehabilitation Associates will manage data collection throughout the clinical trial, Oregon Health & Science University’s (OHSU) Balance Disorder Lab will conduct scientific validation, and APDM will concentrate on technological development and analytics.
Read the full story in the press release.
People over 65 were more likely than those in their 50s and early 60s to say they don’t like using the computer to communicate about their health. They were also more likely to voice discomfort with technology in general.
Read the whole article at https://consumer.healthday.com/mental-health-information-25/behavior-health-news-56/seniors-slow-to-embrace-online-access-to-doctors-734329.html
More seniors are dying after falls, leading the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to ask doctors and other caregivers to broach the topic more often. Read the full report at https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/67/wr/mm6718a1.htm?s_cid=mm6718a1_w
