At a recent conference hosted by National Aging Services Risk Management (NASRM), one of my fellow presenters made the following statement during her presentation: “Comfortable people don’t fall.”
The speaker, Tena Alonzo, caused the audience to pause at this extremely simple yet compelling idea. We spend time and money on bed and chair alarms, chairs, perimeter mattresses, physical and occupational therapies, and a host of other interventions that often have minimal impact in reducing falls in a long-term care setting.
What if we, instead, designed our orientation programs so that each and every employee of the facility became responsible for the comfort of residents—would outcomes improve?
If the licensed nurse communicated with the CNAs about which residents were prescribed diuretics, would we be able to intercede before a resident attempts to transfer independently to a bathroom? If the CNAs actually had quality time with the licensed nurses in order to exchange information about who might be constipated, would we have less abdominal discomfort?
