Signs of Nursing Home Neglect
Falls
A fall is defined as an incident, whether seen or not, where a patient is found on the floor.
Injuries from falls can be devastating to nursing home residents. Falls can result in fractures, dislocations, lacerations, and head injuries, including deadly subdural hematomas.
Many nursing home residents sustain hip fractures in falls. Hip fractures usually require surgical repairs. Statistics show that 50% of all nursing home residents die within one year of hip surgery. Many residents die much sooner as a result of surgical complications and pneumonia.
It is important that the nursing home immediately assesses the resident to see if the resident is at risk for falls. Many things place a resident at risk for falls including, a history of prior falls, medications, strokes, poor safety awareness, instability, a new and unfamiliar environment, poor lighting, improper shoes or socks, slippery floors, and the wrong equipment.
There are many things a nursing home can do to help those residents who are at risk for falls:
- Put the resident in a low bed;
- Use safety mats next to the bed;
- Put an alarm on the bed, wheelchair and resident;
- Place hip protectors on the resident;
- Take the resident to the bathroom every two hours;
- Timely answer the call light;
- Use a bedside commode;
- Seatbelt on the wheelchair.
The best plan is a PLAN. When the resident is at risk for falls, it is important to make sure that there is a plan in place to address the risk for falls. If the plan does not work, then the nursing home needs to come up with a new PLAN. Restraints should rarely, if ever, be used. Only after consultation with the doctor, the nursing home, and after all else fails, should you consider restraining the resident. If you do decide to restrain the resident, then there are many legal requirements for the use of the restraints.