Good news, but . . . Is this really news? Nursing homes have found a better way to reduce falls.
An AP article reports that nursing homes are moving away from physical items such as alarms, rails and mats to reduce falls and instead focusing on personal assistance. “What we really need to do is understand why that individual is wanting to get up in the first place,” said Joan Devine, director of education at the Pioneer Network, which is pushing for national changes.
This trend is good news, but I’m sorry everybody knows that when a sick elders gets out of bed they need to do something. Many of my clients in nursing homes have falls in the middle of the night. They are often trying to go to the bathroom rather than wait hours before an aide is scheduled to take the resident to the bathroom.
Knowing what the resident wants or needs is an oft repeated guide to good care for any condition. For example many difficult behaviors of advanced Alzheimer’s patients are attempts at communicating or doing some familiar activity. E.g. pacing is looking for something, acting out is a reaction to pain or a negative stimulus, and so on.
The immediate moral is for the patient advocate to be sure that the staff learns what a resident needs or is communicating and educate staff about those items, then be sure to monitor that care.
A broader lesson may be extended to home care. Falls happen for a reason. What is the person trying to do and how can we make that safer? Falls at night? Maybe wall rails in the bedroom and a clear path to the bathroom would make a big difference. Maybe having an aide in the evening adjust fluids, e.g. avoiding caffeine, or diet will make a big difference. Some elders drink juice late at night because they are hungry and that gives them temporary relief from hunger but will create the need to toilet later.
Learning a person’s needs and giving needed personal attention makes for a healthier elder. “Who’da thunk it?”
Read the article here: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/1b34373c50f74a2dba29ac17d5533c11/nursing-homes-phasing-out-alarms-reduce-falls