Feasibility of Implementing Recommendations to Reduce Fall Risk in Older People: A Delphi Study

Abstract

Significance: This study provides guidance for the implementation of recommendations for falls prevention in optometry practice, through synthesis with the optometrists' viewpoint as a major stakeholder. Educators and clinicians can adopt the revised recommendations and associated implementation strategies in this research for successful integration into optometric practice.

Purpose: Recommendations for optometrists to help prevent falls in older patients were published in 2019 by Optometry Australia. This study used the Delphi technique to gain perspectives on the feasibility of implementing the recommendations in optometric practice.

Methods: A Delphi consensus process consisted of two rounds of anonymous questionnaires administered between October 2019 and February 2020. A panel of 12 optometrists scored and commented on the importance and feasibility of 28 recommendations based on a published evidence synthesis by Optometry Australia and a pilot Delphi round. Panelists were invited if they had at least 5-year experience in optometry practice and were involved in post-cataract surgery refractive management regularly in the past 12 months.

Results: Twenty-four recommendations reached consensus after the Delphi process. Recommendations that reached consensus but had low uptake in the panelists' practices were history taking about risk of falls and provision of advice to patients to seek professional home modification. Four recommendations did not reach consensus because they were perceived to be too prescriptive and less feasible to execute in real-world settings. To improve the compliance of patients to recommendations to reduce the risk of falls, panelists recommended involving patients in decision making and practice staff should be involved in falls prevention messaging.

Conclusions: The Delphi panel supported the feasibility of most of the recommendations in optometric practice and provided suggestions to improve their implementation. Further research is needed to evaluate the implementation and benefits of these recommendations, designed to make optometric practice more effective in preventing patient falls.