Ageing expert takes new falls guidelines to Iceland

Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) ageing expert Professor Dawn Skelton visited Iceland to teach physiotherapists about the new world falls prevention guidelines.

She reached out to 10% of the Icelandic physiotherapy workforce with her live lectures and workshops over three days but also recorded the sessions for those unable to attend.

Professor Skelton was invited - through an Erasmus+ grant by Professor Sólveig Ása Árnadóttir at the University of Iceland - to speak to physiotherapists and physiotherapy students about the importance of and evidence base for effective falls prevention strategies for older people.

The co-lead of the Ageing Well Research Group in the Research Centre for Health (ReaCH), began her trip by speaking to 5th year physiotherapy students in clinical placements about ‘Considerations for delivering exercise to prevent falls with older adults in groups’.

ReaCH makes a direct and significant contribution to Sustainable Development Goal 3 – good health and wellbeing – issued by the United Nations in 2015 as a blueprint for peace and prosperity across the planet.

Professor Skelton also spoke at the Icelandic Physiotherapy Association, where she was introduced by President Gunnlaugur Briem and spoke about ‘Falls prevention in the UK – How it works, the different organisations involved and scope of practice along the falls exercise continuum’.

Last week we told how Professor Skelton was part of an international expert group behind the landmark publication of the World Guidelines for Falls Prevention.

The global initiative aims to provide a framework and expert recommendations to healthcare and other professionals working with older adults on how to identify and assess the risk of falls.

They recommend which interventions, alone or in combination, should be offered to older people as part of a person-centred approach to preventing and managing falls.

The World Guidelines for Falls Prevention and Management for Older Adults: A Global Initiative have been published in Age and Ageing, the scientific journal of the British Geriatrics Society.

While in Iceland, Professor Skelton also gave a lunchtime lecture at the Department of Geriatrics at Landakot, the National University Hospital of Iceland, to geriatricians, nurses, physiotherapists and occupational therapists on ‘Pitfalls of falls and fracture prevention: Where practice doesn’t follow research?’.

She then visited the Department of Physiotherapy, Faculty of Medicine, School of Health Sciences, University of Iceland to meet faculty researchers and PhD students to discuss public and patient involvement in research and to talk about ways in which impact can be generated from research.