Physical Therapists and Physical Therapist Assistants’ Knowledge and Use of the STEADI for Falls Risk Screening of Older Adults in Physical Therapy Practice in the United States

Jennifer L. Vincenzo, Lori A. Schrodt, Colleen Hergott, Subashan Perera, Jennifer Tripken, Tiffany E. Shubert and Jennifer S. Brach
Additional contact information
Jennifer L. Vincenzo: Department of Physical Therapy, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Fayetteville, AR 72701, USA
Lori A. Schrodt: Department of Physical Therapy, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, NC 28723, USA
Colleen Hergott: Department of Physical Therapy, Augusta University, Augusta, GA 30912, USA
Subashan Perera: Department of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA
Jennifer Tripken: Center for Healthy Aging, National Council on Aging, Washington, DC 22202, USA
Tiffany E. Shubert: UNC Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27514, USA
Jennifer S. Brach: Department of Physical Therapy, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 3, 1-11

Abstract: Fall-risk screening and prevention is within the scope of physical-therapy practice. Prior research indicates United States-based physical therapists (PTs) and physical-therapist assistants (PTAs) use the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s STEADI (Stopping Elderly Accidents, Deaths, and Injuries) toolkit for community-based fall-risk screenings of older adults. However, clinically based fall-risk screenings and knowledge and use of the STEADI by PTs and PTAs is unknown. We conducted a cross-sectional survey distributed to a convenience sample of PTs and PTAs in the United States through email blasts and social media. PTs and PTAs (N = 425) who responded to the survey and worked in clinical settings with older adults were included. Eighty-nine percent of respondents reported conducting clinical fall-risk screening. Approximately 51% were ‘familiar’ to ‘very familiar’ with the STEADI, and 21.7% of the overall sample were not familiar at all. Only 26.1% utilize the STEADI for clinical fall-risk screening. Of the respondents who were ‘very familiar’ with the STEADI ( n = 132, 31.1%), 84.1% ( n = 111) reported using the STEADI in clinical practice. Seventy-six percent of respondents who use the STEADI implemented it by choice even though the majority (52.1%, n = 63) did not have it embedded in their documentation/workflow. Some PTs/PTAs can and do manage falls using the STEADI, but there is a gap in knowledge and use of the STEADI for falls management among PTs and PTAs in the United States. Further research is needed to identify the tools PTs use for multifactorial-fall screening and management and the impact of PTs’ use of the STEADI on patient outcomes.

Keywords: evidence-based practice; accidental injury; injury prevention; rehabilitation; health services; preventive healthcare (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/3/1354/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/3/1354/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:3:p:1354-:d:734138

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().