Ten Minute Safety Walks

[TGIMN]

I have a friend that works in a nursing home and ask me if I have ever read anything about ten minute safety walks. She said, one of their supervisors went to a meeting and come back with this great idea for them to do 10 minute safety checks on q patient on the unit. No matter what they are doing ( they take turns) they must stop and do a walk. They check to make sure bed or chair alarms are still on and if a pt. is sitting in their room that they are still there. They can not stop and clean or dry a pt. at this time. It sounds like alot of waste time to me. The purpose I believe is to cut down on falls. I don't believe this has changed since they started. I just can't believe it is more important to do a walk than to finish feeding a patient ! Has anybody had to do this ? If so, how long and did it impact the # of falls you had ?

[KatieBell]

I'm sure it would cut down on falls, but what nursing home has the staff to do those safety walks? I think they would have to hire a seperate CNA just to walk the hallways all night- because once you get done it seems ten min would be up right away!

[TGIMN]

Thanks for your reply. They didn't hire any more staff and yes once you get done it is almost time for someone elese to walk. Have you ever heard of this before?

[lovingtheunloved, ASN, RN]

That's the biggest bunch of bs I've ever heard.

[CapeCodMermaid, RN]

Wow...never heard of such a thing. No one would have enough time. And the trouble with starting something like that and making it a policy is IF you don't document it somewhere every time you do it, the state could cite you for not following your own policy.