Vision screening in hospitals for older adults following a fall v1.0
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Vision screening in hospitals for older adults following a fall: an intervention development study
IRAS ID
346401
Contact name
Kate Radford
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Nottingham
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier, NCT06645080
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 5 months, 30 days
Research summary
Falling is common in older adults. As the number of older people increases, the number of falls is expected to increase as well. Falls are a major health problem for the public and the UK spends more than £2 billion per year on caring for older adults who fall.
Problems with eyesight are also more common in older age and almost doubles the likelihood of falling. Fortunately, sight loss in older age that is linked to falling is often easy to treat.
UK guidelines have been made to help prevent falls. These guidelines recommend assessing and treating sight loss in all older adults (65 years or older) who attend hospital following a fall. Yet, this is not often done. The reasons for this and ways to encourage doing this need to be discussed with health professionals who care for these patients.
Research has also shown that older adults who fall, are less likely to get their eyes tested regularly. There are many reasons for this and vision screening in hospital following a fall could be a first step in addressing these. The views of the public are important in making services that they understand and that meet their needs. Therefore, this study will combine the views of health professionals and patients to improve the way sight loss is checked and treated in older adults, who attend hospital following a fall.
This study will have four parts:
1. A review of the existing research on this topic.
2. Focus groups with health professionals.
3. Focus groups with patients who have fallen and their carers.
4. Development and trial of a way of assessing and treating sight loss in older adults who attend hospital following a fall.REC name
East Midlands - Nottingham 2 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
25/EM/0001
Date of REC Opinion
6 Dec 2024
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion