Practice guideline for the ED management of falls in community-dwelling elderly persons

This guideline is intended to assist emergency physicians and nurses in the management of people older than 65 years who present to the ED after sustaining a fall. It is not intended to be rigidly applied to every such patient. Physicians may choose to individualize therapy on the basis of unique clinical circumstances, or they may adopt a variation of these guidelines on the basis of a different interpretation of the literature concerning the issues we have addressed. It was our goal to help emergency health care providers identify the causes of falls in older people and to help their patients by providing a framework in which to implement those interventions already known to improve the function status of older persons and reduce the frequency of hospitalization and nursing home care.