Information and Process in Health

Cooperation and partnership in healthy ageing enhances and enriches the underlying information and process models within integrated care. On information, functioning oriented data as part of health and social data describes medical conditions and functioning capacity of the older person. Similarly, the notion of a good practice, as embracing a conglomerate of guidelines, is also well understood but less so in terms of process substance. Process structure granularity is often quite coarse and less formal, comparable to process descriptions annotated with clinical guidelines. This chapter describes an algebraic framework for representation of functioning data typically found in contexts of integrated care processes in healthy ageing.

Health and Fall Risk Monitoring Within Common Assessments

This chapter presents an exploratory review on the evaluation, assessment, and monitoring in health and fall risk by common and the most used assessment tools. The main discussion of this chapter of evaluation in health and fall risk is divided into six categories—global health assessment, specific physical (and fitness) assessment, cognitive and psychological assessment, pharmacological assessment, fall risk specific assessment, and some complementary assessment—which show information and how to access. Whereas health evaluative experiences and practices are essential to drive a better and specific intervention, revealing its importance and necessity was also highlighted.

Patient Safety

The purpose of this chapter is to give a perspective of patient safety culture by users of public health units through a qualitative analysis of open questions asked. The sample consists of 241 patients from the health region of Algarve. The open questions were the object of content analysis in thematic and categorical form, followed by lexical treatment using the Iramuteq software. From the patients' point of view, the evolution of patient safety is the result of an understanding of the meaning of the highlighted terms (safety, health, meaning), as well as of the intervention and improvement in these categories. It is known with these associations that for the patient, patient safety involves the existence of professionals for each individual (personal) and the existence of a receptive and empathic nature on the part of the professionals (human), as well as the need to demystify care for the understanding of patients (technician/knowledge) and the provision of care completely focused on the patient (attention).

Twin Contributors to the Physiology of Ambulatory Wellbeing and Falls Prevention in Ageing Populations

Being able to theoretically underpin the gerontology of ageing is a fundamental part of designing and constructing bespoke research and care interventions for the exploration of fall prevention in practice. Within the context of home care and community-based settings being able to integrate fall prevention into the integrated care that older people receive, their ambulation, health, and wellbeing, and subsequently their longevity in senior years, can be extended and sustained in terms of quality and satisfaction. This chapter contextualises and frames falls and fall injuries as a societal challenge by deconstructing the characteristic physiological processes of senescence and identifying key areas for fundamental address in the prevention of falls ‘in situ'. The chapter's focus is predominantly aligned to those processes of natural senescence aligned with normal ageing processes, alongside those pathologies which constitute abnormal pathological processes, which occur more often in older adults as a consequence of these processes of senescence.

Integrating Social and Health Services for People, Communities, Homes, and Places

The challenge of an ageing population requires a paradigmatic shift in the way we provide social and healthcare services, demanding the need to prioritize the functionality and independence of older adults. The risk and subsequent fear of falling is one of the most high-risk states for older adults, as it generates a destabilizing effect on their health that is often hard to recover. It is essential to thoroughly address their risk factors and mitigators. This discussion needs to be made in light of a person-centered perspective that goes beyond fragilities to capitalize on the strengths of the older adults. The chapter provides examples of how to connect assessment, interventions, and monitoring to a coherent framework approach that mitigates the risks and the impact of falls on an ageing society. The authors explore how technological innovation, urban planning, and regional policies that are culturally relevant can be incorporated in creating a circular economy while meeting the needs of an aging population and preventing falls and cognitive decline.

Integrated Care in Prevention

Given health and health economy assessments, a common assessment framework for active and healthy ageing (CAFAHA) is ideally desirable, even if not yet fully feasible, given the activities developed within European Innovation Partnership for Active and Healthy Ageing (EIP on AHA) since 2012, now moving into its subsequent framework on healthy ageing. However, as there is diversity with respect to maturity in regions, in order to fully develop prevention practices and campaigns, assets as part of maturity need to be defined more clearly.

Effects of Spaceflight, Aging, and Bedrest on Falls

With the increasing proportion of older persons globally, healthcare issues are becoming more complex. Older persons often spend substantial time confined to bed, which leads to physiological deconditioning and increased risk of falls. Fall-related injuries lead to higher hospitalization costs and worsening of the quality of life of older persons. Thus, monitoring of falls and reducing the risk of falls is an increasingly important element of geriatric care. Examined in this chapter will be aspects related to falls induced by immobilization (bedrest confinement). Interestingly, spaceflight-induced physiological deconditioning predisposes astronauts to higher risk of orthostatic intolerance and, consequently, falls. Since bedrest confinement is an established model for studying the deconditioning effects of spaceflight, knowledge drawn from bedrest studies can provide insights into the underlying mechanisms leading to falls in astronauts and in bed confined patients and in particular in bed-confined older persons who are typically dealing with the deconditioning effects of aging.

Fall Prevention in Education and Training of Healthcare Students, Professionals, and Non-Professionals

Falls are a significant and increasing threat to wellbeing and health of older adults in Finland. Education is a key factor to prevent falls. National recommendations have been published to guide the health care professionals' work in falls prevention. In addition, interprofessional collaboration between different organizations have been done to prevent falls. This collaboration has produced evidence-based falls risk assessment tools, falls prevention programs, and materials advising older adults to prevent falls. Healthcare and educational organizations use these methods and materials to educate professionals and students in the risk assessment and prevention of falls among older adults. Finland is a good example how healthcare professionals from different settings and universities have worked together to increase the knowledge about falls and skills to prevent falls. Good collaboration can prevent falls nationally.

Bone Density and Fall Risk Screening in Algarve

Osteoporosis is a major cause of morbidity and mortality around the world and is a silent disease characterized by low bone strength that results in an increased risk of fracture. The benefits of being physically active in advanced ages to reduce the loss of bone mineral density (BMD) and improve functional capacities are well known. Quantitative ultrasound (QUS) is a peripheral bone densitometry technique that is rapidly gaining in popularity for the assessment of skeletal status, along with fall risk assessment. This chapter consists of a brief review of the literature on osteoporosis and describes ongoing activities on bone density and fall risk prevention in Algarve, Portugal as part of EIP AHA´s action group on fall prevention with the presentation of a preliminary study. This study aimed to demonstrate that the postmenopausal female seniors who adhere to the recommendations for the regular program of physical activity after osteoporosis screening one year later show a slower decrease in BMD.

Fall Prevention Activities and Resources in Norway

The relevant literature review was conducted to determine current knowledge and practices related to adult fall prevention in Norway. It included scientific publications on studies and tools. The review was extended to include the clinical studies and resources offered by the healthcare sector that was made publicly available on their websites. Results are presented in tables structured to show study objectives, approach, and results. The information offered to patients is presented per region and hospital. During the period of the last 20 years, there were numerous studies and useful information offered to the public. There is also one fall prevention program assessed in a dedicated study.