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January 2005 Preventing falls |
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Autumn of life presents Fall risks
By Mark Sunderland
The author is Principal, Biomedical Industry Group, Ottawa (
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) and columnist for DPN.
For millions of elderly people, falls represent a serious health risk. And for society, falls represent a major healthcare cost.
In the U.S. alone, at least one in every three persons age 65 and older will fall each year. Fractures are the most serious health consequence of falls, and falls are responsible for almost 90% of all fractures among older adults.
Statistically, the numbers seem to suggest a rather grim prognosis for older people. But many of these falls and the resulting injuries can be prevented. Strategies to prevent falls among older adults include: exercises to improve strength, balance, and flexibility, as well as the review of medications that may affect balance; and, home modifications that reduce fall hazards such as grab rails, improved lighting and removing items that may cause tripping.
Understandably, elderly people that spend most of their time at home are more likely to fall in or around their home than anywhere else, and often when undertaking a simple manoeuvre: getting up, sitting down or getting out of bed. Just a momentary loss of balance can have devastating consequences.
I know of an elderly woman who slipped on a bar of soap when getting out of a tub. She broke a hip and after many months of rehab she did the same thing again and broke the other hip. When a person is usually alone (possibly locked in), has a high step to climb over, a hard surface to fall on and no phone to hand ñ it all adds up to potential disaster and sadly supports the notion that itís easier for an ambulance to wait at the bottom of a cliff than to put a fence at the top.
HealthCraft Products of Gloucester, ON, (healthcraftproducts.com) has worldwide distribution and is a leader in addressing this serious health hazard of falling. It has consequently designed and developed a variety of innovative devices that greatly reduce these risks. They can be simply installed in private homes, nursing homes, hospitals, in bedrooms, bathrooms and living rooms ñ anywhere that is a risk node. One of the products that HealthCraft produces is a support for bedside use.
The product is the Modrail System. (left) As the name suggests, it is a modular device that provides support in a variety of ways when getting in and out of bed. Again, to fully understand this, one must realize that for a large proportion of our population, the process of getting in and out of bed is a major undertaking and not simply a leap.
One of the many advantages of the Modrail system is that it adapts easily to the needs of its user by giving security at night while serving as a bed rail, and a support post for standing up or sitting down. It can incorporate a magazine rack and even a tray table, and none of it is intrusive ñ it is just sits gently in place while offering a sturdy support.
There are, however, challenges in designing such devices ñ not solely from a physical standpoint but from a political one. Recent legislation has increased the restrictions on the use of bed safety side rails by disallowing their use in nursing homes. At issue is the patientís freedom ñ or at any rate the perception that the freedom of getting out of bed is not allowed. With the removal of bed rails, patients demonstrate this new found freedom by falling out of their beds, which they do with increasing frequency, consequently frustrating the institutional staff that is not allowed to use full bed safety sides. Attempts to use the half bed rails that are available for home beds, have been to no avail because the models that are ideally suited to home use have not proved sufficiently durable to withstand the rigors of institutional use.
This problem led to a major hospital calling on HealthCraft for help. The company rose to the challenge and after a thorough examination of all possibly suitable products, quickly deployed a heavy-duty half bedside rail that is modular in nature and provides cuing for the edge of the bed. Going beyond the call of duty, HealthCraft also added a movable support arm for enhanced mobility assistance. The product has now completed a successful trial period in the hospital.
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