The World Falls Guidelines for the Prevention of Falls in Older Adults

Overview

Falls in older adults are a major health concern, impacting independence and increasing the risk of morbidity, mortality, and rising health care costs. While some chronic conditions among older adults are declining, falls and fall-related injuries continue to increase worldwide. To address this issue, the World Guidelines for Falls Prevention and Management in Older Adults were published in October 2022.

This project was a global initiative to create standardized clinical practice guidelines that can be used in different settings and countries. A multidisciplinary committee across 40 countries, including physiotherapy researchers, worked on this project to create recommendations for fall prevention and management.

This online course will provide an overview of the world guidelines for falls prevention and management for older adults, highlighting the areas that are relevant to physiotherapy practice, and updating current best practices in this area.

This online course is presented by Dr. Susan Hunter, PT, PhD, Associate Professor in the School of Physical Therapy at the University of Western Ontario, and an internationally recognized expert in falls prevention.

Presenter: Dr. Susan Hunter

Dr. Susan Hunter PT PhD is an Associate Professor in the School of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Western Ontario in Canada. She is a Physical Therapist with 32 years of clinical experience and has a PhD in Epidemiology and Biostatistics, both from the University of Western Ontario. Dr. Hunter’s research interests are the rehabilitation of geriatric patients, particularly the cognitively-impaired older adult, and their experience of falls, frailty and mobility decline. She also has special interest in fall prevention among patient populations of lower extremity amputees, lower extremity joint arthroplasty and Alzheimer’s disease.

Dr. Hunter was a member of the Steering Committee for the World Guidelines and co-lead for the World Guidelines Working Group on Cognition and Falls. She was also on the international panel of rehabilitation experts in dementia working on the WHO’s Rehabilitation Program on Rehabilitation Interventions for People with Dementia published in 2023. She is the past Vice-President of the International Association of Physical Therapists Working with Older People (IPTOP) and former Chair and Executive Committee member of the Canadian Physiotherapy Association Seniors’ Health Division.