Study Finds Bed Alarms Don't Prevent Nursing Home Falls

January 17, 2013

Nursing homes and hospitals are supposed to keep our frail and elderly loved ones safe from harm. Unfortunately, this doesn't always happen. The risk of injury is omnipresent when vulnerable populations are being cared for, and some caregivers don't do enough to prevent their patients from being involved in an accident.

Falls are one of the biggest threats affecting elderly and infirm patients. According to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 1,800 elderly nursing home residents die from injuries sustained in falls each year. Thousands more sustain serious life-altering injuries like broken hips and traumatic brain injuries.

Falls can happen for any number of reasons, but many of them occur when patients try to get out of bed. To address this problem, hospitals and nursing homes have long used bed rails to prevent patients from accidentally rolling out of their beds or attempting to get out of bed without proper supervision. These bed rails, though, frequently cause more harm than good. Every year, hundreds of patients die after becoming trapped between the bed rail and the mattress.

As an alternative, some hospitals and nursing homes have switched to using alarms that alert caregivers when a vulnerable patient attempts to get out of bed. These alarms can also be placed near chairs, toilets or other objects that might create a fall risk.

Initially, the alarms were hailed as a great leap forward for safety. However, it turns out they do not work as well as everyone thought they would. According to a study recently published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, the alarms do not actually do that much to reduce fall rates.

The study focused on 349 beds in 16 units at a hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. Half the units were used as controls, and the other half received specialized trainings and interventions designed to increase the use and understanding of fall alarms. Although the interventions led to more widespread use of alarms, once the researchers adjusted for contributing factors -- like staffing levels or the use of psychotropic medications -- they didn't note any statistically significant decrease in fall rates.

Nursing home injury lawsuits

The researchers attributed some of their findings to a factor they called "alarm fatigue." Basically, nurses and other staff hear the alarms so frequently that they become desensitized to them.

No patient should have to endure this type of inattention. At best, it is poor care. At worst, it can be negligence that rises to the level of medical malpractice.

Nursing home and hospital patients who are injured because of a caregiver's negligence have a right to pursue personal injury lawsuits to seek financial compensation for the harms they have suffered. If you or a loved one has been hurt in a fall, talk to a personal injury attorney who can help you understand your options.

Article provided by Davis Law Firm
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