Study: Impact-Absorbing Flooring Helps Prevent Fall Injuries

Researchers in Sweden have found that impact-absorbing flooring can provide measurable benefit in preventing injuries from falls.

The researchers, who say their work is the first "statistically significant" study on this topic, determined that impact-absorbing flooring can reduce injury rates by 59 percent over conventional flooring.

During the study, which took place over the course of two and a half years, the researchers recorded 254 falls on regular flooring and 77 on impact-absorbing flooring. They found that the injury/fall rate was 30.3 percent for falls on regular flooring and 16.9 percent for falls on impact-absorbing flooring. All of the subjects were female residents.

To learn more, click here.

Falls: Which Residents Are At Risk?

Falls can happen in a split second. While they can’t always be prevented, it’s important to know which of your residents are at an increased fall risk.

According to the CDC, residents are more likely to fall if they have the following traits^1:

•   Have muscle weakness and walking or gait problems (these residents account for almost a quarter of all falls in nursing homes)
• Take medications, including sedatives and anti-anxiety drugs
• Have difficulty moving from one place to another
• Have poor foot care or poorly fitting shoes
• Use walking aids improperly or incorrectly

Environmental risks, including wet floors, poor lighting, incorrect bed heights and improperly fitted or maintained wheelchairs, can also contribute to falls.

The CDC recommends implementing a fall prevention strategy that includes a combination of medical treatment, rehabilitation and environmental interventions that should be undertaken at the organizational, staff and resident levels. To learn more, click here.

Reference

1 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Falls in Nursing Homes. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/HomeandRecreationalSafety/Falls/nursing.html. Accessed October 8, 2012. 

Brush Up on Fall Risk Factors

Do you know which of your residents are most likely to suffer a fall? Can you spot environmental hazards at your facility? The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) recently posted a new training module to help nursing home personnel strengthen their fall prevention and management skills.

In the module, the AHRQ notes that there are two primary groups of risk factors: those tied directly to residents and those linked to the environment. They list the following as the biggest risk factors related to residents¹:
Previous falls: If residents have fallen in the past, they are much more likely to do so in the future.
Diminished strength: Strength is measured by a resident’s ability to stand and walk unaided. Residents with diminished strength in their lower limbs are more likely to fall.
Gait and balance impairments: Abnormal patterns of steps and difficulty maintaining balance can lead to falls.
Medications: Certain drugs, such as sedatives, hypnotics, antidepressants and benzodiazepines, have been associated with falls.
Alzheimer’s disease or dementia: In general, residents with dementia are both more likely to fall and more likely to be injured in a fall. They are also more likely to fall during the late afternoon and at night.
Vision impairment: Difficulty seeing clearly is tied to increased fall risk.

Falls can also be caused by problems in the environment, such as¹:
Design problems: Call buttons that are inaccessible, insufficient lighting and floor that are wet, uneven or slippery can lead to falls.
Lack of space: If rooms are small or overcrowded, residents are more likely to fall while trying to navigate them.
Obstacles: Items left in crowded rooms or hallways, such as wheelchairs, linen carts, medicine carts and cleaning equipment, can lead to falls.
Equipment malfunction or misuse: Residents are more likely to fall if the equipment they rely on doesn’t work properly, such as wheelchairs that don’t lock.
Staffing and organization or care: Inadequate staffing can lead residents at a high risk of falls without supervision.

The AHRQ module also includes guidance on limiting falls that cause injury, responding to falls and a list of additional tools and resources for use in your fall prevention efforts. To access the module, click here.

   

Reference

1 Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Improving Patient Safety in Long-Term Care Facilities, Module 3. Available at: http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/ptsafetyltc/ltcmod3sess1.htm#Safe. Accessed July 25, 2012.

Falls, CNA Staffing Levels Connected

New research has shown that the fall risk for newly admitted, short-stay nursing home residents is tied to CNA staffing levels.

The researchers analyzed MDS assessments for more than 230,000 such residents in 2006 and found that 21 percent of them experienced a fall within 30 days of being admitted. Facilities that had higher CNA-to-resident ratios had fewer falls.

The researchers theorize that new residents are more likely to fall partially because they are unfamiliar to staff who may not have conducted fall-risk assessments.

To learn more, click here.

Residents More Likely to Fall after Certain Antidepressant Changes

A new study has found that nursing home residents are five times more likely to fall in the two days immediately following a change in their prescribed dosage of non-SSRI antidepressants. This class of antidepressants includes drugs such as bupropion (Wellbutrin), trazodone (Desyrel) and venlafaxine (Effexor).

The researchers theorized that this increase in falls could be caused by acute cognitive or motor effects that are tied to the medications. Certain non-SSRI antidepressants can also cause a dramatic decrease in blood pressure when a person goes from sitting to standing, which could also be a factor.

The study was conducted by researchers from the Institute for Aging Research of Hebrew SeniorLife.

To learn more, click here.