Abstract
Falls remain a major geriatric problem, and the search for new solutions continues. We investigated how existing fall prevention technology was experienced within nursing home nurses' environment and workflow. Our NIH-funded study in an American nursing home was followed by a cultural learning exchange with a Dutch nursing home. We constructed two case reports from interview and observational data and compared the magnitude of falls, safety cultures, and technology characteristics and effectiveness. Falls were a high-magnitude problem at the US site, with a collectively vigilant safety culture attending to non-directional audible alarms; falls were a low-magnitude problem at the NL site which employed customizable, infrared sensors that directed text alerts to assigned staff members' mobile devices in patient-centered care culture. Across cases, 1) a coordinated communication system was essential in facilitating effective fall prevention alert response, and 2) nursing home safety culture is tightly associated with the chosen technological system.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 276-282 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | Geriatric nursing |
| Volume | 38 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2017 |
Keywords
- EWI-27742
- Fall prevention
- Long-term care
- Position monitors
- Monitoring technology
- METIS-321721
- IR-103591
- Bed exit alarms
- Alarm fatigue
- Pressure sensor mats