Abstract
INTRODUCTION: In order to improve resident safety and reduce hospital admissions, the ‘Optimizing Bed Height Quality Improvement Study’ aims to raise awareness among healthcare professionals about the importance of ensuring optimal bed height to prevent falls and injuries in residents and to improve bed mobility.
The parameters from a 2015 study, ‘Analysis of the Influence of Hospital Bed Height on Kinematic Parameters Associated with Patient Falls During Egress', are taken into account when using intervention techniques.
METHODS: Residents aged 65 or over falling out of bed between January and June of 2022 were used as a pre-test measure. By maintaining a hip or knee angle just above 90 degrees, keeping the resident's feet flat on the floor, and ensuring that they can easily transition from sitting to standing and vice versa, the nurse and physiotherapist assessed the resident's mobility and determined the height of the resident's bed. An illustration of the ideal height is displayed on a poster that hangs on the wall above the headboard of the bed. Nurses visit each resident's room each day to ensure that the beds were in the ideal position and record this information in the monitoring system. The data obtained during the six-month period of intervention (July to December 2022) was compared with the pre-test results.
RESULTS: Results from a six-month intervention period (July to December 2022) were compared to those from a six-month pre-intervention phase (January to June 2022) with fourteen bed falls, there was a FIFTY PERCENT decrease in bed falls.
CONCLUSION: After a six-month clinical trial, the study revealed that older adults who had bed falls and trouble getting out of their beds had lower fall rates, suggesting that stakeholders' knowledge of the ideal bed height had increased.