Robert Breslow, associate professor (CHS), will serve as project contractor for a grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to advise the CDC on medication-related fall prevention strategies, including recommending changes to the STEADI (Stopping Elderly Accidents Deaths and Injuries) tools and resources in order to improve the quality of medication reviews/Medication Therapy Management (MTM) by pharmacists.

The CDC’s STEADI initiative is a program with tools and resources developed by the CDC to assist health care providers with strategies to help the elderly reduce their chances for falling. STEADI’s tools and educational materials, including an online training module, are designed to help identify patients at low, moderate, and high risk for a fall; identify modifiable risk factors; and offer effective interventions.

It is thought that improvements in MTM recommendations related to medications and falls will result in medication interventions by prescribers that can help to reduce the risk for falls.

The scope of the project will include a thorough review of existing STEADI tools and resources including focus group topics, scripts, materials, and pharmacist selection/recruitment, and training materials. Breslow will advise on the development of the STEADI online continuing education training course for pharmacists. In addition, Breslow will identify and make recommendations on the best National STEADI dissemination and implementation strategies, advise on existing STEADI products to make them appropriate for pharmacists, improve physician ability to conduct medication reviews following the recommendations of pharmacists, and advise the CDC on methods to engage pharmacists in fall prevention.

The project began in June and will be completed by June 2017.

Breslow’s research interests include cognitive screening and the pharmaceutical care of the older adult.