Bed alarms not proven to prevent patient falls in hospitals, UF researchers say скачать в хорошем качестве

Bed alarms not proven to prevent patient falls in hospitals, UF researchers say

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Equipping hospital beds with alarms does not decrease patient falls and related injuries, according to University of Florida researchers and colleagues. The findings, published today (Nov. 20) in the Annals of Internal Medicine, cast doubt on the merits of the widely touted alarms as a patient safety tool. "The idea that hospitals can magically eliminate the problem of falls by investing a lot of money and effort into bed alarms is not well-founded," said lead researcher Ron Shorr, M.D., a professor of epidemiology in the UF College of Public Health and Health Professions and College of Medicine and director of the Geriatric Research, Education and Clinical Center at the Malcom Randall Veterans Affairs Medical Center. "Does that mean bed alarms should never be used in hospitals? No — I think that alarms may have a use within the context of a well-developed fall prevention program." Funded by the National Institute of Health's National Institute on Aging, the study adds to the sparse data that exist on the effectiveness of alarms in fall prevention in hospitals, and could help inform the design and application of fall-reduction strategies. About one-quarter of falls among hospitalized patients result in injury, according to an analysis in the journal Clinics in Geriatric Medicine. Older adults are particularly at risk. Accidental falls lead to complications in 2 percent of hospital stays, according to various studies, including from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. And falls extend hospital stays and raise treatment costs by more than $4,000 per patient, on average, according to an analysis in the American Journal of Medicine. In 2008, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services stopped paying hospitals for excess costs incurred for treating injuries related to inpatient falls.