Best practices and organizational models for advanced management of older people in hospital and primary care settings: a translational approach to fall prevention

Worldwide, aging populations are driving the adoption of new organizational and health-care models. Particularly needed are hospital and primary care organizational models that positively influence health outcomes and clarification on the best practices for preventing falls and the loss of physical function among older people living at home. The aim is to explore new organizational models for the advanced management of older people in hospital and in primary care settings and to implement best practices for reducing falls. The first chapter presents general considerations and provides a summary of the rationale behind the study design. The second chapter contains an explanation of the project’s concept in more detail and an in-depth discussion of the thesis topics. The third chapter introduces an innovative hospital model for intensive care in the geriatric setting, and the fourth chapter presents an application of that model. The fifth chapter presents the results of the application of the model at the primary care level in which the setting has been shifted from the hospital to the patients’ homes. The sixth chapter introduces two examples of how the evidence discussed here can be applied in practice. Preliminary results are contained in the meta-analysis in chapter seven. The eighth and ninth chapters present best practices for fall prevention in the elderly, and chapter ten addresses the challenge of fall prevention in the home setting through the use of technology that records falls and monitors the patient over time. This tool, which has been validated across borders, is the topic of chapter eleven. In chapter twelve, the general research pathway and additional considerations are discussed. Although studies are still ongoing and, therefore, conclusive inferences are not possible, preliminary results on the use of the organizational healthcare model and best practices are promising. Further studies are needed to investigate the impact in terms of the quality of clinical and organizational care, as well as patient satisfaction and outcome