Frail Seniors

Preventing functional decline and secondary falls among frail older adults

RCA initiatives support best practice care for community-dwelling older adults.

• Piloting post-fall rehabilitative care pathways
  
  The RCA developed evidence-based care pathways for primary care and emergency departments to connect frail older adults who fall with rehabilitative care to prevent functional decline and additional falls. The care pathways:
  
  
  • make it easier for primary care and emergency departments to connect older patients who have fallen with appropriate rehabilitative services
  • aim to reduce falls, one of the leading causes of preventable injuries among Ontario seniors that result in ED visits and hospitalizations.

The RCA is piloting the draft pathways in several regions of Ontario to finalize them before moving to broader implementation. 

• Developing best practices framework for geriatric rehabilitative care
  
  The RCA is also developing a best practices framework for standardized geriatric rehabilitative care across the continuum to support better clinical outcomes for frail older adults and improve flow within the system.
  
  
• Implementing best practices framework for hip fracture
  
  The RCA is continuing to support the implementation of the best practices framework for hip fracture, including strategies for quality improvement.

A more detailed list of activities for all RCA initiatives is found here. Terms of reference and the membership for the advisory and task groups can be found on our governance page.