Facing an ever-aging population and national statistics indicating falling is one of the most common patient problems at hospitals, Caritas Norwood Hospital officials have started a fall prevention program.
The program is part of a Department of Public Health initiative for all health caregivers to concentrate on reducing patient falls that often cause injuries.
According to Center for Disease Control and Prevention statistics, in 2005 more than 15,800 people 65 years old or older died of fall-related injuries, while another 1.8 million were treated in emergency departments for nonfatal injuries after falls.
The agency also claims the total cost for falls among older adults in 2000 was about $19 billion and predicts that, due to the growing population of this age group, the cost is expected to increase to $43.8 billion by 2020.
Caritas Norwood Hospital has set up a multi-faceted approach to the issue, starting with initial screenings of elderly or other patients who may be deemed at risk for falling during their hospital stay.
Clinical Nurse Specialist Mary McDougall said patients are deemed at risk for a variety of reasons including vision problems, arthritis, diabetes or even if a patient is taking medications that could cause dizziness.
"Falling is vastly unreported in the community, so when we get elderly patients in here, we have to be ever so careful and vigilant," said McDougall. "We have a lot of different tools."
The first step, said quality and patient safety manager Lynn Worley, is communication. If, for instance, a patient comes into the emergency room and is admitted into the hospital, emergency room officials notify nurses if that patient is at risk for a fall.
Once hospital staff knows a patient is at risk, strategies can be employed from the very subtle - putting the patient in a room closest to the centralized nurse's stations, allowing for additional observation - to the more direct. The hospital has a three-bed fall-prevention room that has a nurse stationed in the room. The facility also has new beds with pressure sensors that notify nurses immediately when a patient leaves the bed.
But McDougall said the hospital has other methods as well, such as a Velcro strap that can be placed over a patient lying in bed.
"It's not a restraint, because the patient can easily remove it, but it does serve as a reminder," said McDougall.
Sometimes, McDougall said, a reminder is all it takes since patients can be fine in their own homes or settings, but can get disoriented either by medication or ill health or unfamiliar surroundings and become fall risks at the hospital.
The hospital also has a volunteer group, Hospital Elder Life Program, in which members visit patients and keep them company with specific activities or by sharing a meal.
"It sounds like common sense, but these things really can make a big difference," said psychiatric clinical nurse specialist Laura Gimby.
"A lot of seniors do fall, but it doesn't always get reported," said Worley. "But if they get hurt, a broken hip or something like that can have significant consequences for the elderly."
Daily News staff writer Brian Falla can be reached at 781-433-8339 or bfalla@cnc.com.
