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Medications, poor nutrition are risk factors.

Falls are the leading cause of fatal injury among older adults and taking every effort to mitigate fall risk will help keep your patients safe. Look to these obvious — and not so obvious — risk factors for falls:

Medication Issues: A blog post at the Collaboration for Homecare Advances in Management and Practice website () offers the following list of medications that increase the risk of falls in the home health population: 

• Warfarin and other anti-thrombolytics 
• Oral chemotherapy agents such as methotrexate when used for non-oncologic indications such as arthritis 
• Oral hypoglycemics and SQ insulin 
• Digoxin 
• Narcotics/opiates

Gait and Balance Disorders: While normal aging can cause gradual gait changes, muscle weakness, sensory input impairment, and joint contracture can put your patients at greater risk of falls, according to an article in American Nurse Today. Assessing your patient’s functional status with one of the standardized assessment tools such as the Timed Up and Go test or the MAHC-10 can help you to determine whether he is at risk.

Cognitive Impairment: Patients with cognitive impairment or dementia are less likely than those in good mental health to recover well after a fall, the American Nurse Today article points out. These patients are also more likely to suffer a serious injury.

Assess patients with dementia for cognitive and perceptual limitations so you can plan and implement a rehabilitation program to improve functional safety and ability to perform activities of daily living, the article advises.

Poor Nutrition and Limited Activity: Being physically active can greatly reduce the risk of falls in the elderly population. And “research shows vitamin D and calcium supplementation significantly reduce older adults’ fall risk,” the American Nurse Today article notes.

Environmental Risk Factors: An unsafe home can greatly increase the risk of a fall. Scatter rugs, inadequate lighting, slippery bathroom fixtures, and obstacles in walking routes can all promote falls.

Read the American Nurse Today article here: .