Down with falls! Paramedicine scope regarding falls amongst older adults in rural and remote communities: A scoping review.

Peters, A; Lim, D; Naidoo, N

Down with falls! Paramedicine scope regarding falls amongst older adults in rural and remote communities: A scoping review.

Peters, A Lim, D Naidoo, N

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Publisher:: WILEY
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Aust J Rural Health, 2023, 31, (4), pp. 605-616
Issue Date:: 2023-08

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Peters, A
dc.contributor.author	Lim, D
dc.contributor.author	Naidoo, N
dc.date.accessioned	2023-10-04T23:57:09Z
dc.date.available	2023-05-01
dc.date.available	2023-10-04T23:57:09Z
dc.date.issued	2023-08
dc.identifier.citation	Aust J Rural Health, 2023, 31, (4), pp. 605-616
dc.identifier.issn	1038-5282
dc.identifier.issn	1440-1584
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/172496
dc.description.abstract	INTRODUCTION: Australian rural and remote areas are faced with the double burden of an ageing population paired with inequitable access to health resources due to the paradigm of major city centred health care. This complicates fall management within this space. Paramedics are a registered health profession, which provides mobile, equitable health care. However, this resource is not being effectively utilised in rural and remote areas where primary care access barriers may cause patient needs to go unmet. OBJECTIVE: To describe the existing literature and describe the international scope of current paramedicine practice in the out-of-hospital management of falls amongst older adults in rural and remote settings. DESIGN: Joanna Briggs Institute scoping review methodology was employed. CINAHL (EBSCO), MEDLINE (Ovid), EMBASE (Ovid), SCOPUS (Elsevier), Google Scholar and These Global were searched and Australian, New Zealand and the UK ambulance service guidelines were sought. FINDINGS: Two records met inclusion criteria. Currently, rural and remote paramedic fall management involves preventative health promotion through patient education, population-based screening and referrals. DISCUSSION: The use of paramedics to screen at-risk populations and refer is vital, as many rural adults had screened positive to fall risks and other unmet needs. There is poor recollection of physically printed education material and low acceptance of further in-home assessments following paramedic departure. CONCLUSION: This scoping review has highlighted a significant knowledge gap on this topic. Further research is needed to effectively utilise paramedicine within areas where access to primary care is not possible to achieve downstream, risk reducing care in the home.
dc.format	Print-Electronic
dc.language	eng
dc.publisher	WILEY
dc.relation.ispartof	Aust J Rural Health
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1111/ajr.12994
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.subject	11 Medical and Health Sciences, 16 Studies in Human Society
dc.subject.classification	32 Biomedical and clinical sciences
dc.subject.classification	42 Health sciences
dc.subject.mesh	Humans
dc.subject.mesh	Aged
dc.subject.mesh	Paramedicine
dc.subject.mesh	Australia
dc.subject.mesh	Emergency Medical Technicians
dc.subject.mesh	Delivery of Health Care
dc.subject.mesh	Paramedics
dc.subject.mesh	Humans
dc.subject.mesh	Aged
dc.subject.mesh	Emergency Medical Technicians
dc.subject.mesh	Delivery of Health Care
dc.subject.mesh	Australia
dc.subject.mesh	Paramedicine
dc.subject.mesh	Paramedics
dc.subject.mesh	Humans
dc.subject.mesh	Aged
dc.subject.mesh	Paramedicine
dc.subject.mesh	Australia
dc.subject.mesh	Emergency Medical Technicians
dc.subject.mesh	Delivery of Health Care
dc.subject.mesh	Paramedics
dc.title	Down with falls! Paramedicine scope regarding falls amongst older adults in rural and remote communities: A scoping review.
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	31
utslib.location.activity	Australia
utslib.for	11 Medical and Health Sciences
utslib.for	16 Studies in Human Society
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Health
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Health/IMPACCT
utslib.copyright.status	open_access	*
dc.date.updated	2023-10-04T23:57:08Z
pubs.issue	4
pubs.publication-status	Published
pubs.volume	31
utslib.citation.issue	4

Abstract:

INTRODUCTION: Australian rural and remote areas are faced with the double burden of an ageing population paired with inequitable access to health resources due to the paradigm of major city centred health care. This complicates fall management within this space. Paramedics are a registered health profession, which provides mobile, equitable health care. However, this resource is not being effectively utilised in rural and remote areas where primary care access barriers may cause patient needs to go unmet. OBJECTIVE: To describe the existing literature and describe the international scope of current paramedicine practice in the out-of-hospital management of falls amongst older adults in rural and remote settings. DESIGN: Joanna Briggs Institute scoping review methodology was employed. CINAHL (EBSCO), MEDLINE (Ovid), EMBASE (Ovid), SCOPUS (Elsevier), Google Scholar and These Global were searched and Australian, New Zealand and the UK ambulance service guidelines were sought. FINDINGS: Two records met inclusion criteria. Currently, rural and remote paramedic fall management involves preventative health promotion through patient education, population-based screening and referrals. DISCUSSION: The use of paramedics to screen at-risk populations and refer is vital, as many rural adults had screened positive to fall risks and other unmet needs. There is poor recollection of physically printed education material and low acceptance of further in-home assessments following paramedic departure. CONCLUSION: This scoping review has highlighted a significant knowledge gap on this topic. Further research is needed to effectively utilise paramedicine within areas where access to primary care is not possible to achieve downstream, risk reducing care in the home.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/172496