Pharmacy Care (STEADI-R_x)

STEADI-R_x was designed to improve collaboration between healthcare providers and pharmacists and is based on CDC’s STEADI (Stopping Elderly Accidents, Deaths, & Injuries) initiative. STEADI-R_x provides guidance to pharmacists on how to screen pharmacy patients, assess their medications, and intervene to reduce fall risk. CDC developed STEADI-R_x in partnership with the University of North Carolina Eshelman School of Pharmacyexternal icon and School of Medicineexternal icon.

Certain medications can increase fall risk

Many older adults (aged 65 and older) take medications for sleep disorders, anxiety, high blood pressure, or chronic pain. Side effects from these drugs can change the way a person feels or thinks and can cause drowsiness, loss of balance, changes in vision, slower reaction time, and other effects that increase the risk of falling. Falls are serious—and in 2018 resulted in about 3 million emergency department visits, 950,000 hospitalizations, and 32,000 deaths among older adults.¹ The U.S. older adult population is rapidly growing, which means more people will be in need of interventions to reduce fall risk. As medication experts, pharmacists can help reduce fall risk using STEADI-R_x.

How STEADI-R_x works:

1. Screen patient for fall risk at the pharmacy.
2. Perform a medication review.
3. Share information with the patient and provider.
4. Provider responds to shared information.

Helping Pharmacists reduce older adult falls

STEADI-R_x has resources to help pharmacists engage patients and providers to improve fall-related health issues. STEADI-R_x offers tools for pharmacists on how to screen, assess, and coordinate care to reduce older adult fall risk.

1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS) Fatal Injury Data. (2018)