Dr. Tiffani Chidume, assistant clinical professor in the School of Nursing, received the Best Research Award in Nursing and Health Professions from the International Research Awards on New Science Inventions (NESIN 2020 Awards). The award recognizes her exemplary work in her profession, research and publications.

NESIN recognized Chidume’s research findings to be published in the Journal of Applied Nursing Research, by Elsevier (Volume 67, February 2021). The manuscript — Promoting older adult fall prevention education and awareness in a community setting: A nurse-led intervention — is a result of her DNP project investigation. She worked closely with the Auburn University Interprofessional Education (IPE) team with Dr. Sarah Watts as her mentor.

Falls are the leading cause of injury-related death among older Americans and lead to 5 million emergency department visits annually. According to Chidume, falls are costly and one of the most expensive medical conditions to treat. Fall risk prevention awareness, assessments, and education are needed to improve healthcare outcomes in the aging population, optimally, to increase safety and decrease falls. “The implementation of fall prevention toolkits (FPTs), such as fall risk screenings and fall prevention education (FPE), have become progressively important in reducing fall incidences. Nurses have a greater role and responsibility to care for the aging population. The purpose of this project was to implement a FPT to adults age 65 and older that attended mobile IPE community clinics.”

NESIN, an International Research Organization, invites researchers involved in graduate education and research endeavors that accentuate progress. NESIN’s merit-based award platform, the ScienceFather, publishes an outline of research to support excellence in various fields in science and technology. The awards recognize researchers and their organizations globally to encourage and honor significant contributions and achievements in their field of expertise. Nominees are judged on latest publications, quality of research, novelty, past accomplishments, research excellence, and outstanding academic achievements.