Preventing falls in acute rehab center

I work on a rehab floor. We work as a TEAM - there is no "I'm the RN, you are the Tech" attitude here...if someone needs help getting pulled up in the bed, so be it. If they are a total assist - get a gait belt and get help. Our nurse leader also creatively schedules the techs so that we have enough to get it all done in the midst of daytime/dr's/physical therapy etc...

We also have our physical therapists work with techs and new nurses on how to effectively "block" a patients knees, lift without hurting their back, etc. When the PT's assess the pt they usually put on the whiteboard in their room what kind of assist they are (min/mod/max) and why (knees buckle, confused).

It's helpful to know that some types of stroke patients are more prone to attempting to transfer themselves (I think it is the ones with left sided weakness, it affects their judgement), and put those on a bed alarm or close to the nurses station where we can keep an eye on them. We also park pts in their wheelchairs out in our view point between therapy sessions so they don't try to get out on their own.

Hope that helps!
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