Falls Prevention: ABFM practice questions

10 board-style questions on falls prevention in the PulseMD family medicine question bank, written against current guidelines with the reference cited on each question. Two free samples below; the full set with answers, explanations, and spaced review is free to start.

Sample question 1

A 74-year-old woman presents after tripping over a rug at home and falling, resulting in a wrist contusion. She reports this is her second fall in the past 6 months. Her medications include lisinopril, metformin, and alprazolam 0.5 mg at bedtime for insomnia. Her vital signs are normal, including orthostatic blood pressure measurements. Her vision was last checked 3 years ago. What is the single most impactful initial intervention to reduce her fall risk?

  1. Recommend calcium and vitamin D supplementation only
  2. Order a brain MRI to rule out neurologic causes of falls
  3. Prescribe a rolling walker for home use
  4. Review and reduce fall-risk-increasing medications, starting with the benzodiazepine

Sample question 2

An 81-year-old man with hypertension, type 2 diabetes, peripheral neuropathy, and bilateral cataracts presents after his third fall in 4 months. His medications include amlodipine 10 mg daily, metformin 1000 mg twice daily, gabapentin 300 mg three times daily, tamsulosin 0.4 mg at bedtime, and a daily multivitamin. Orthostatic vitals show a supine BP of 138/78 mmHg and a standing BP of 112/64 mmHg after 3 minutes. His Timed Up and Go test is 18 seconds. Which combination of interventions is most appropriate?

  1. Address orthostatic hypotension by adjusting amlodipine and tamsulosin, refer for cataract evaluation, start physical therapy for balance training, and supplement vitamin D
  2. Discontinue all antihypertensives, refer to ophthalmology, and prescribe a cane
  3. Admit to the hospital for comprehensive inpatient fall evaluation and telemetry monitoring
  4. Start meclizine for dizziness, increase gabapentin for neuropathic pain, and order physical therapy

Create a free PulseMD account to answer these, see the explanations, and practice five minutes a day.

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