Emergency medicine journal : EMJ
-
Multicenter Study
Barriers and enablers that influence guideline-based care of geriatric fall patients presenting to the emergency department.
Geriatric patients commonly present to the ED after a fall. Recent evidence suggests that ED physicians are poorly adherent to published ED-specific geriatric fall guidelines. This study applied a theoretical domains framework (TDF) approach to systematically investigate barriers and enablers in the provision of guideline-based care to ED geriatric fall patients. ⋯ This study identified important barriers and enablers to provision of guideline-based care in geriatric ED fall patients. Based on these findings, future implementation of guidelines nationally and internationally should focus on improving knowledge and training on guidelines, improving positive reinforcement for guideline-appropriate management, greater allied health support and further research to support guidelines.