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Research explores pharmacist role in fall risk
Fall risk is a major cause of injury and death for older patients, and because pharmacists play a major role in managing patients’ drug interactions, faculty and staff from East Tennessee State University Bill Gatton College of Pharmacy and the College of Clinical and Rehabilitative Health Sciences (CCRHS) teamed up to explore how pharmacists can help decrease fall risk for older patients by assessing medications and patient characteristics such as height, weight, and gender.
This research aim was part of a larger, multi-focused interprofessional research grant of over $45,000, sponsored by the ETSU Research Development Committee and awarded to Dr. Courtney Hall, Professor in the CCRHS Physical Therapy program.
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The research focus and publication are the results of efforts of the late Dr. Brian Odle, an Associate Professor of Pharmacy Practice at Gatton College of Pharmacy.
“Dr. Odle presented the idea that pharmacists are unique in assessing drug-associated fall risk in the clinical setting due to their professional education and location within the current health care system,” said Dr. Peter Panus, Professor Emeritus of Pharmaceutical Sciences, who served as a co-author on the research.
“Fall risk is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in all health care and community settings,” said Panus. “Pharmacists, in assessing fall risk, will only increase the discussion and collaboration by health care professionals.”
Because Odle came up with the idea for the research, his name was given to the measurement the researchers used: the Odle Drug-Associated Fall Risk (ODAFR) scale, a 5-point Likert scale developed by Drs. Sam Karpen and Panus to assist pharmacists in assessing each drug’s fall risk. The ODAFR scale will require additional research prior to consideration as a clinical tool.
Panus served as the primary and corresponding author on the publication resulting from the research effort. Co-authors included Dr. Kelly Covert, Associate Professor of Pharmacy Practice; Odle; Karpen, who served as Director of Assessment at Gatton College of Pharmacy; and Dr. Zachary Walls, who served as Assistant Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences. In addition to being the grant awardee, Hall was the senior author.
