Alarm Sensors: Evaluating the Effectiveness in Reducing Elderly Inpatient Falls

Abstract

Patient falls, particularly those within the elderly population, are an ongoing issue with inpatient hospital stays. Bed and chair sensors are used to alert staff when patients are exiting in an effort to prevent falls. Since the 1940’s, inpatient falls have been the largest single occurring incident. Falls can lead to injury, which often translates into increased costs, longer lengths of stay, and poor patient outcomes. As a result, healthcare has taken aim to alleviate falls by implementing fall prevention programs which include nursing education, training, and technical support to increase the implementation of alarm sensors. The literature review consisted of randomized control trials, which were found through the use of medical databases such as, CINAHL full text, Medline, Cochrane Library, and ProQuest Nursing and Allied Health Source. After reviewing the data, all four studies indicated that alarm sensors alone do not decrease the number of falls for elderly patients. Further research needs to be completed to determine if other interventions, such as patient teaching and daily falls risk evaluation, combined with alarm systems would be effective in decreasing fall rates.

Keywords: accidental falls, sensor systems, elderly, safety, injuries, inpatient, incidents, prevention, alarms, monitoring