Fall Prevention

June55Baby · Apr 26, 2004

I've not done a "study", but our hospital has a Fall Risk Assessment and a Fall Prevention Program with Staff and Patient Education

purplemania, BSN, RN · Apr 26, 2004

Several years ago we did an in-house study on the type and frequency of falls. We audited charts for pt. age, gender, DX, LOC at time of fall, use of narcotics, things you think might contribute to falls. We came up with some indicators and made them known to the staff. We also have a fall prevention program with Diversion Boxes for pts. who are confused or restless. The boxes contain games, reading material, yarn to thread plastic canvas, all sorts of things. We have contests to see who can come up with the best box. Occasionally we do chart audits to trend the indicators, and post the results so the Units know where they stand compared to other units. The aim is NO falls and NO restraints.

tommywc · May 12, 2004

Are you looking for a study that uses a scale and such or are you looking for a study on interventions?

oceanblue · May 12, 2004

Looking For A Study On Interventions. :)

martysgurl · May 13, 2004

Our policy is alike to others.. no restraints is first

We use ALOT of tabs monitors..if your not familiar with them there a clip which is attached to a box. You clip it onto the residents clothing and when they get up it rings the call bell and sounds an alarm. There great !!

Also we use alot of pool noodles under the sheet at the side of the bed , a foam mattress on the floor is great to. We have few residents with 2 side rails and if they do they are by the families choice.

No lap belt restraints used... tables on broda chairs for very frail residents.

tommywc · May 13, 2004

Ocean, I have been using a fall monitor called Bedcheck. It has helped us quite a bit. this is a senormat based system that ties into the nursecall system as well. They also have similar products for the chair.

We also use floor mats just in case they do make it to the floor. Also as Marty said there are mattresses with bolstered edges that work well as well. They often act as a reminder for the patients.

zuchRN · May 23, 2004

we have now implemented a walk to dine program for appropriate individuals. I was also just reading a study from medscape that was saying that balance activities in restorative decreased falls more than strengthening or endurance exercises. we have also really focused on our exercise program and grouping people for restorative care (1:4 ratio). They play games like basketball, bubbles, velcro darts and variace ball toss games. This dropped our falls from 30 per month to about 15-20 per month. A lot of the resident's falling were those resident able to actively participate in restorative and hence, restorative activities take up more time, energy, and provide closer supervision. I don't know what state you are in, but where I am we can have a physical therapist train non nursing personel to ambulate lower risk individuals and also count this as a program. I have also ordered hipsters to prevent injuries post fall, they seem to work (i guess we will know that they don't if there is a hip fx) We utilize low beds...not my favorite thing to do...alot of undue stress on nursing staff backs. I have not tried this yet, but i saw in the fall prevention catalog that they have infrared beams that will alarm when someone is gettingout of bed. Our regional nurse has utilized them and has found it helpful. Pull tab alarms are great but we are phasing them out and going strictly to pressure sensitive alarms...9 times out of ten, the resident is remopving the alarm. Another one of the tools that we utilize to assure that we are doing all that we can for fall prevention is a fall log form. The fall log is a briggs form that has a check off list on the front and a nurses notes on back...it is very useful in tracking and trending falls. The 2 things that we should stress the most is not utilizing antipsychotics or benzodiazepines.....not good at all. we have also stressed the pain management component involved in falling---often, having a good pain management regime for a resident prevents the falls altogether. :chuckle