Implementing the Accora FloorBed® Technology in Lutheran Nursing Home

Overview 

The Lutheran Nursing Home in Chicago, Illinois, a non-profit senior living community, began utilising the Accora FloorBed in an effort to mitigate and drive down the percentage of falls in their residents. They had an average of 23 falls amongst their residents resulting in 2 notable injuries and of those, 7 falls were directly from the bed. It was a problem that needed addressing. Risk was further established by analysing fall data for the selected residents over a four-month period.

Factually, on average, in 2019, Between 50% and 75% of nursing facility residents fall each year. This is twice the chance of falling than if a senior lives within the community. Meaning in a typical year, a nursing home with 100 residents reports about 100-200 falls (Source: Nursing Home Abuse Center). Additionally, in a recent study, ‘Lowest Heights of Floor Level Beds: Fall Velocity and Impact Force Analysis and Resulting Injuries’, by Dr. George Zaphir, Dr. Zaphir measured the velocity of falls from increasing heights, thereby equating that more severe injuries are incurred further when the height is increased from the baseline.

Approach 

Staff then conducted a six-month trial to assess and evaluate whether the use of a floor-level bed would lead to a reduction of falls in their nursing home, having chosen the Accora FloorBed and the functionality it offered as an essential component for fall prevention.

The bed has an automatic safety stop at 178 mm from the floor before going into the floor-level mode which takes the mattress platform to 71 mm. Additionally, there is a handset which can also be locked out to prevent inadvertent or misuse of the bed which offers further safety measures.

The average evaluation period for the residents utilising the Accora FloorBed was 12 weeks (range 4-17 weeks).

Outcome

After the study, twelve residents were then allocated a FloorBed. The percentage of falls from the bed was subsequently reduced by 100% meaning zero residents had any falls.

Therefore, no injuries resulting from bed falls were then reported.