Has anyone heard about a falls traffic light system? Eg Red - means patient needs assistance at all times, Yellow (amber) patient needs supervison and Green Patient is OK? I would love it if someone could point me in the right direction.
mom2cka 329 Posts Specializes in FNP. Nov 11, 2008 I'd love to know more about this also. I tried to find research related to 'stop light' or 'traffic light' etc., but had very little luck. I think we could implement this easily in our unit if I had data to support it. If you get more information, please share - thank you!
Rehabme 31 Posts Nov 13, 2008 Hi I have found some hospitals in Australia that use it - I am asking for the data now - let see how I go.
SixFive 55 Posts Specializes in Physical Rehabilitation, med-surg. Has 15 years experience. Nov 21, 2008 We use a red/yellow/green system.On admission, the admitting nurse completes the FAST = Fall Assessment Screenint Tool. The result of that puts the patient at either a high (red), moderate (yellow), or low (green).Any patient who is a red 'tag' has a bed alarm and wheelchair alarm. They can not be left unattended in the bathroom or in their room unless they are in bed. All of our red tagged patients have this red tag/sticker on their wheelchair, above their bed, and at the doorway. A yellow tagged patient may be left alone in their room unattended, and they do not have alarms. They can call for help appropriately, and may sometimes also have BRP or be independent in their room. We rarely use the green tag, but it is very similar to yellow. Usually that person is independent, but they don't have to be. Is this what you're talking about, or was I totally missing your question?
ayla2004, ASN, RN 782 Posts Has 5 years experience. Mar 20, 2009 we use traffic lights red/amber/greendo a fall risk on admission and weekly at minuinred bed at lowest saftey rails if agreed with buzzer to hand nurse used for all transfers walks
Blondie Nurse 3 Posts Specializes in Tele/Pulmonary, geriatric, hem/onc, m/s. Feb 3, 2010 I brought this idea up at our Unit Practice Council meeting...for some reason our fall rate has GREATLY increased.my idea: post color tags at each door (private rooms) and each one has their special meaning:RED: bedrest/bedboundYellow: up with assist onlygreen: up as tolerated/ up ad libwe would use this for their specific activity ORDER by the doctor. we also use the Hendrich II fall scale upon admission.....greater than 5 is a HIGH fall risk, lower than 5 is low fall risk. a "high" fall risk is designated by a "FALLING STAR" on each door. Currently the star is the ONLY thing we use...but just bc someone was ordered up ad lib, according to the scale they could be a fall risk.....(if that makes sense) so we wanted to implement BOTH to give us more info.our other motive is that ANY STAFF member that walks in the room has an idea of what the person's capabilities are.......you could walk into a lil old woman yelling that she has to get up and go to the bathroom....but if you didn't know her...how could you really know she could get up? (then you'd have to leave the room, find out her capabilities etc etc)Our biggest problem isn't assisted falls (while we are in the room) its the un-assisted falls that we are battling. We did an audit....and just after midnight was our witching hour so to speak. ugh.......its SO frustrating!hope this helps a lil....and when we actually implement something, i'll let ya know :)~Brandi
aramsgirl 4 Posts Apr 26, 2012 Has anyone heard about a falls traffic light system? Eg Red - means patient needs assistance at all times, Yellow (amber) patient needs supervison and Green Patient is OK? I would love it if someone could point me in the right direction.Here is an article with the trafffic light info you are asking about. https://www.premierinc.com/safety/topics/falls/downloads/E-14-falls-project-uk.pdf
