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The Masonic Villages of Pennsylvania Organization have five residential communities across Pennsylvania, USA, which provide a continuum of care from active retirement living through personal care, memory care, and nursing services. As in any senior care facility, bed falls represent a significant risk for residents and can result in injuries, loss of confidence/independence, and of course there’s also the economic impact of falls upon the facility itself to consider.
With a view to improving proactive prevention of bed falls, a study was conducted to observe whether residents with a risk of falling from the bed or who had fallen in the last 3 months would benefit from the capabilities of the Empresa FloorBed in preventing future falls.
The study included two phases to provide a benchmark and to measure changes.
Phase one: Eligible high-risk residents were identified and observed over a 3-month period to determine a baseline level of falls and fall-related injuries. In this phase, the residents continued to use the standard care bed used across all three facilities which has a mattress platform range of 7” to 30”.
Phase two: The Empresa, an ultra-low ‘floor’ bed with a minimum height of 3.9” (100 mm) rising to 31.5” (800 mm) was implemented. In addition to comfort adjustments, the Empresa includes BodyMove® auto-regression on the mattress platform to reduce shear and friction over areas supporting body weight that are vulnerable to pressure injury.
Both beds have user-accessible functionality to promote independence and have safety features, such as movement locks, to prevent unintentional maneuvers. For phase two, 20 Empresa FloorBeds and floor mats were provided along with in-service training by Accora.
20 residents who met the inclusion criteria completed the 12-week evaluation of phase one and between 9 and 12 weeks in phase two. Over the two phases, it was found that implementing the Empresa FloorBed not only reduced the number of falls from the bed for the included individuals but also had an impact on the frequency of non-bed falls.
In phase one, 58 separate falls were recorded between the 20 residents. Of these, 26 (45%) were falls from the bed, and 32 (55%) were instances in which falls were not from the bed.
In phase two, 26 falls were recorded, 6 of which were bed falls (23%), and 20 of which (77%) were not falls from the bed. This showed a bed fall reduction of 77% and an overall fall reduction of 55% and in terms of injuries, 6 injurious falls were reported in phase one and only two were reported in phase two. Both injurious falls in phase two were non-bed falls. This shows a reduction of 67% in injurious falls and a 100% reduction in injurious bed falls.
The Masonic Villages Organization, as a high-quality care provider, is continuously seeking ways to mitigate the risk of falls, while providing an environment that encourages independence, positive emotional well-being, and functional mobility. The introduction of the Empresa FloorBed was associated with a significant reduction in the number of falls from the bed and, importantly, the severity of fall-related injuries. As a result of this evaluation, and positive staff feedback, the Empresa FloorBed was adopted as the preferred bed for residents at high risk of bed falls.
You can find the independent study carried out by Masonic Villages here and for more information about the Empresa FloorBed, just click here.
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