Objectives: To assess the effectiveness of patient education in reducing falls, promoting behavioural change and the uptake of prevention activities in older adults during and after hospitalization.

Design: Systematic review and meta-analysis.

Methods: A systematic search of five health science databases was performed up to November 2012. Studies that investigated patient education as a single intervention or in a multifactorial falls prevention programme in the hospital and/or post-discharge community settings, were eligible for inclusion. Standard meta-analysis methods were used to assess the effectiveness of patient education compared to usual care. Tests for heterogeneity, subgroup meta-analyses and a priori subgroup meta-analyses were performed for primary outcomes where appropriate. Primary outcomes were incidence of falls, falls-related injury and healthcare use due to falls. Secondary outcomes were mechanisms of behavioural change in falls prevention. Qualitative data were analysed by narrative review.

Results: Falls prevention programmes that contained patient education were effective in reducing fall rates amongst hospital inpatients and post-discharge populations (risk ratio [RR] 0.77, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.69 to 0.87), and in reducing the proportion of patients who became fallers in hospital (RR 0.78, 95% CI 0.7 to 0.87). Patient education generally increased knowledge about falls and awareness of prevention strategies. The uptake of strategies may be dependent on the activities being targeted.

Conclusion: Falls prevention education should be recommended for older adults while in hospital and following discharge. Falls education programmes should consider the use of intensive face-to-face patient education with multimedia materials in preference to provision of written information alone or brief amounts of interpersonal contact.