Clinical & Medical Care in Long-Term Care [LTC-04-EN]

Falls Prevention and Management in Long-Term Care [LTC-04-EN]

Falls represent the most frequent adverse event in long-term care settings globally, accounting for an estimated 30–50% of institutionalised older adults experiencing at least one fall annually, with a significant proportion resulting in fractures, hospitalisation, functional decline, and death. In Georgia and the broader South Caucasus region, where long-term care infrastructure is undergoing rapid formal expansion and accreditation frameworks are being established, the clinical and legal stakes of inadequate fall prevention have never been higher. Despite robust international evidence on modifiable risk factors, structured prevention programmes remain inconsistently implemented, exposing residents to preventable harm and exposing facilities to accreditation failure. This course directly addresses that gap, translating international best practice into protocols that Georgian and regional care teams can apply on the ward and defend before accreditors.

The course is grounded in the World Health Organization’s Global Report on Falls Prevention in Older Age, the Joint Commission International standards for long-term care organisations, and the evidence underpinning validated instruments including the Morse Fall Scale, STRATIFY, and the Timed Up and Go test. Instructional design follows a case-based, competency-mapped methodology: participants work through realistic resident scenarios drawn from LTC settings, applying risk stratification, environmental assessment, and post-fall review processes before receiving structured feedback. Georgian Ministry of Labour, Health, and Social Affairs licensing criteria and Accreditation Service for Foreign Study (ASF) assessment priorities are explicitly referenced throughout, ensuring that learning translates directly into surveyable practice.

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Distinguish between intrinsic and extrinsic fall risk factors using validated multifactorial assessment tools, including the Morse Fall Scale and STRATIFY, and assign residents to low, moderate, or high-risk categories with documented clinical rationale.
• Implement a tiered, individualised fall prevention care plan that integrates pharmacological review, mobility aids, supervised exercise referral, and targeted environmental modifications in accordance with JCI LTC standards.
• Evaluate the physical environment of a long-term care unit against WHO and ISO 21542 accessibility benchmarks, identifying lighting, flooring, furniture, and assistive device deficiencies that increase fall probability.
• Apply the facility’s post-fall response protocol, including immediate clinical assessment, incident documentation, root-cause analysis, and communication with family and the multidisciplinary team, within the timeframes required by Georgian accreditation criteria.
• Analyze aggregated fall incident data to identify temporal, locational, and staff-shift patterns, and construct quality-improvement recommendations suitable for presentation at a facility governance or accreditation review meeting.
• Demonstrate accurate documentation of fall events, corrective actions, and outcome monitoring in the resident medical record in a format that satisfies both clinical audit and external accreditation inspection requirements.

Who Should Attend

This course is designed for nurses, physicians, physiotherapists, and occupational therapists working in licensed long-term care facilities, nursing homes, and rehabilitation units across Georgia and the South Caucasus. It is particularly valuable for staff in facilities currently preparing for initial JCI or national accreditation, as well as clinical leads and quality officers responsible for adverse-event governance and PDCA cycle management. Mid-career professionals transitioning from acute hospital settings into long-term care will find the course essential for re-orienting their clinical practice toward the distinct risk profile and regulatory environment of residential care.

Course Structure

The course is delivered entirely online through the GMJ Academy platform, comprising six structured modules with an estimated study commitment of four to five hours; learning is assessed through scenario-based knowledge checks and a summative case analysis requiring a written post-fall review and prevention plan. Successful completion yields a GMJ Academy certificate of achievement and qualifies for continuing medical education credit recognition under the Georgian CME/CPD framework.