Nijmegen Falls Prevention Program (in Dutch: Vallen Verleden Tijd)

Program and other relevant information for participants

As a participant you get access to the private website www.npicursus.nl.
Here you can find all information; e.g.: schedule, preparations, updates.

Videotrailer

Locations

• Hotel Papendal (route)
• Sint Maartenskliniek (locatie Nijmegen - Ubbergen) (route)

Accreditation

No accreditation

Learning outcome

After the course, the participant is able to set up a fall prevention and fall training program and to give practical interpretation.

Description

Falling is an important health problem in the elderly. One in three persons 65 years and over fall at least once a year and about 12% of these falls require medical treatment. The Sint Maartenskliniek in Nijmegen (the Netherlands) developed a training program to prevent falls and fall related injuries: the Nijmegen Falls Prevention Program (in Dutch: Vallen Verleden Tijd). The program consists of three elements: an obstacle course, walking exercises and the training of fall techniques. Balance and movement control are practiced in ADL situations, which are embedded in the obstacle course and in various forms of games during the walking exercises. To this, various double tasks are added to approach the ADL as well as possible. Furthermore, since not all falls can be prevented, fall techniques are taught to prevent participants from injuries. These fall techniques are derived from martial arts.
The effectiveness of the program is determined in two randomized controlled trials. The results show a significant 46% reduction in the number of falls and the experiences and reactions of the participants are very positive. The National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Center for Healthy Living has attributed the highest possible recognition to the ’Nijmegen Falls Prevention Program’, namely 'proven effective'.

To be able to implement the program on a larger scale the Dutch Institute of Allied Health Care, in collaboration with the Sint Maartenskliniek, developed a course to instruct allied health professionals in the theoretical and practical background of the Nijmegen Falls Prevention Program. As a result of this course a large number of elderly people have been able to participate in the falls prevention program in the Netherlands.
Recently, the program received international attention in response to a published article in The New York Times.
Therefore, the course is now translated to English to enable allied health professionals from all over the world to implement the Nijmegen Falls Prevention Program in their daily practice.

This two days trainers course consists of a theoretical and practical part. The program start with the theoretical background of the problem of falling and the Nijmegen Falls Prevention Program. In this part interactive lectures regarding balance and movement control, case finding of elderly with increased risk of falls and the content and evaluation of the program are given. After that, the content of the program is practiced. Participants will experience and discuss the different exercises of the Nijmegen Falls Prevention Program and important points for attention during the practice sessions are indicated.

Attention: the original training program presented in the course is aimed at independent living and mobile elderly people. Of course, the basic principles are also useful for other target groups such as elderly in nursing homes or with specific pathologies.

Course price

€ 550,00

Didactics

Home study, response lecture, work assignments in small groups and practical demonstrations

Joke Smit
Dutch Institute of Allied Healthcare
email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
telephone: 06 82 64 35 84
Available: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday