Annual Forums

Opening Session

Plenary Session 1

Pam Albany Guest Lecture: Professor Susan Kurrle, Geriatrician Hornsby Ku-ring-gai and Eurobodalla Health Services, Curran Professor in Health Care of Older People, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney

Professor Kurrle holds the Curran Chair in Health Care of Older People in the Faculty of Medicine and Health at the University of Sydney and is also a geriatrician at Hornsby Ku-ring-gai Hospital in Northern Sydney and at Batemans Bay and Moruya Hospitals in Southern NSW. She is the Clinical Director of Aged Care and Rehabilitation for Northern Sydney Local Health District. Prof Kurrle has worked extensively in the area of dementia, and has developed a memory assessment and dementia program at Hornsby Ku-ring-gai Hospital where she works clinically in this area, and leads a Dementia Clinical Drug Trials Unit. She has also developed rural memory clinics in Southern NSW and a telehealth dementia clinic in Armidale in northern NSW.

Addressing frailty with 4 year olds running the show”

Frailty is an age associated decline in functioning across multiple physiological systems resulting in an increased vulnerability to stressors, and an increased chance of poor health outcomes. People with frailty are 2 to 3 times more likely to fall than their non-frail counterparts, and experience higher morbidity and mortality as well as lower quality of life. It is therefore important to recognise and intervene in frailty, and intergenerational care programs have a significant part to play in improving mobility and function.

This presentation discusses the interventions and improvements made by participants in the intergenerational care program as seen on Series 1 and 2 in the ABC series ‘Old People’s Home for 4 Year Olds’ with reference to frailty, and also improvements in quality of life.

Pam Albany Guest Lecture Slides

Professor Cathie Sherrington, Institute for Musculoskeletal Health and School of Public Health, University of Sydney/ Sydney Local Health District

Professor Cathie Sherrington FAHMS, FACP, PhD, MPH, BAppSc, Institute for Musculoskeletal Health and School of Public Health University of Sydney/ Sydney Local Health District where she leads the Physical Activity, Ageing and Disability Research Stream. Her research focuses on the design and evaluation of falls prevention and exercise interventions for older people and those with disabilities. She has authored 280+ refereed journal articles, 47 clinical trials (18 with NHMRC funding) and 26 systematic reviews, and has been a Chief Investigator on NHMRC grants totaling over $26 million include the Centre of Research Excellence in the Prevention of Fall-related Injuries that she leads. Cathie is ranked # 3 falls researcher in the world by Scopus and Expertscape. Cathie has a clinical background as a physiotherapist in aged care and rehabilitation and is a Fellow of the Australian College of Physiotherapists as well as the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences.

An update on the current evidence for fall prevention interventions

The volume of research being published on fall prevention can be overwhelming. This presentation aims to provide an update on the current evidence for fall prevention interventions in hospital, community and aged care settings and to overview important new studies.

Research Update slides

Plenary Session 2

Dr Karla Seaman, Research Fellow, Australian Institute of Health Innovation, Macquarie University
Dr Nasir Wabe, Senior Research Fellow, Australian Institute of Health Innovation, Macquarie University

Dr Seaman is an experienced pharmacist and health services research fellow in the Aged Care Evaluation and Research Team at the Australian Institute of Health Innovation, Macquarie University. She has expertise in linked administrative data, mixed methods, evaluation, and stakeholder research projects. She has worked across a variety of health sectors including leading and coordinating research for a non-for-profit organisation, hospitals and within the community. She focuses primarily on translation research in the areas of aged care and older adults. She supported the establishment of a research centre in aged care and has been an industry leader for the NHMRC Cognitive Decline Partnership Centre.

Dr Nasir Wabe is a Senior Research Fellow with multi-disciplinary background (pharmacy, epidemiology, and data science) and expertise in the areas of outcome-based health services research, health informatics, pharmacoepidemiology and quality use of medicine. Dr Wabe has extensive experience in conducting data linkage and analysis of big health data obtained from primary care, hospitals, and residential aged care. He has been successful in securing >$1 million in research funding and has led the statistical aspects of several large-scale projects over the past 5 years. Dr Wabe has a strong track record of research outputs with >50 peer-reviewed papers (h-index 20, i-10 27).

A dashboard of predictive analytics and decision support to drive care quality and person-centred outcomes in aged care

Older people in residential aged care facilities are vulnerable to falls and associated injuries. We are currently working in partnership with an aged care provider to co-develop a dashboard to improve care quality and early identification of individuals at risk of falls using routinely collected aged care data. In this presentation, we will discuss various aspects of our project, including co-designing of the dashboard, falls epidemiology, the validity of the current fall risk assessment tool, and the development of a novel dynamic falls risk prediction tool.

A dashboard of predictive analytics slides

Prof Anna Barker, Executive Director, Research & Innovation, Silver Chain Group Limited

As the Executive Director, Research & Innovation at Silver Chain Group, Anna leads the Future Care strategy that will shape how care in the home is delivered in Australia and Internationally. The strategy brings together service evaluation, innovation and research activities. I lead strategic planning and implementation of the research and innovation activities across the Future Care workstream and the business. This includes building academic and industry partnerships to support research and innovation activities, management of the research governance function and supervision of research and innovation staff across the business.

Anna has led several large NHMRC multi-centre Randomised Controlled Trials in fall and fracture prevention (combined budget >$5M) and supported several others as CIB including NHMRC funded Better Brains trial to delay cognitive decline via e-health technologies (2019-24 $ l .6M). In evidence of the quality and significance of my research, key findings have been cited by National Best Practice Guidelines. Anna also led the world’s largest falls prevention RCT with >40,000 hospital patients. This landmark study was published in The BMJ and the full text of the article was downloaded >7,000 times in the first month after publication.

RESPOND to the first fall to prevent the second

Anna will present recent population data and evidence on fall related hospital presentations and evidence around falls prevention in the community. She will provide an overview of the RESPOND trial that tested a novel approach to falls prevention involving a telephone based patient-centred program. The results of the ASPREE-Fracture study that explored the effect of daily low-dose aspirin on fractures and fall related hospital presentations will also be shared. Challenges to reducing falls at a population level will be discussed and potential solutions explored.

RESPOND to the first fall to prevent the second slides

Ms Lorraine Lovitt, Senior Improvement Lead, Older Persons’ Patient Safety Program, Clinical Excellence Commission

Lorraine is a Senior Improvement Lead in the Older Persons’ Patient Safety Program at the Clinical Excellence Commission (CEC). Our role is to support health services to build capacity in undertaking quality and safety improvement initiatives to improve the safe care for older people by focusing the implementation of the CEC model for Comprehensive Care – minimising harm.

Lorraine has a nursing background with considerable experience in aged care in both community and acute care settings and in the residential aged care sector.

CEC Older Persons’ Patient Safety Program: Keeping older people safe in our care

CEC Older Persons’ Patient Safety Program

NSW Fall Prevention and Healthy Ageing Network Update

Concurrent Afternoon Sessions

Hospital best-practice fall prevention programs: Smith Room

A range of presentations focusing on quality improvement in the hospital system to prevent falls will be given. This session aims to show how falls can be prevented in the hospital and highlight key issues that have arisen within different hospitals across the state. This will be followed by a Q&A discussion panel with each of the presenters and will be facilitated by Malcolm Green, Clinical Excellence Commission.

Q&A

Hospital best-practice fall prevention programs: Individual Talks
Falls Prevention in a busy ED environment
Daniel Van Vorst, A/Clinical Nurse Consultant, Liverpool Hospital Emergency Department

Be Curious: Plan for success
Briony Chasle, SWSLHD Fall Prevention Coordinator By Your Side
Mayla Mendieta, Nursing Unit Manager, Bankstown Hospital A comprehensive approach to falls prevention, one meal at a time
Amanda Wood, Nursing Unit Manager, Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital Have a seat, not a fall!
Vicki Deane, Aged care CNC, Liverpool Hospital Safety in Single Rooms
Melisa Grujovski, Practice Development Coordinator, Maitland Hospital Falls no more
Ruben Mateluna, Nursing Unit Manager, SWSLHD
Ying Chen, A/CNC, SWSLHD Know Falls No Falls
Arjay Clamonte, Clinical Nurse Educator, Bowral & District Hospital Let’s reflect on the fall
Vanathy David, Aged care CNC, Wollongong Hospital Community and residential care initiatives to promote exercise and prevent falls: Wesley Theatre

A range of presentations covering community exercise program providers, preventing falls in a mental health setting, enhancing empathy in aged care and empowering aged care residents to get active will be given. This session aims to provide an overview of the types of evidence-based exercise programs available in the community and to engage with your clientele to provide best-practice care.  This will be followed by a Q&A discussion panel with each of the presenters and will be facilitated by Daina Sturnieks, UNSW.

Further Exhibitor Info

Falls in Older People: Risk factors, strategies for prevention and implications for practice

This third edition of a trusted resource brings together the latest literature across multiple fields to facilitate the understanding and prevention of falls in older adults. Thoroughly revised by a multidisciplinary team of authors,
it features a new three-part structure covering epidemiology and risk factors for falls, strategies for prevention and implications for practice. The book reviews and incorporates new research in an additional thirteen chapters
covering the biomechanics of balance and falling, fall risk screening and assessment with new technologies, volitional and reactive step training, cognitive-motor interventions, fall injury prevention, promoting uptake and
adherence to fall prevention programs and translating fall prevention research into practice. This edition is an invaluable update for clinicians, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, nurses, researchers, and all those
working in community, hospital and residential or rehabilitation aged care settings.

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