Improving Quality
and Financial Results

primaris flame Primaris Tools - Setting : Nursing Home Condition: Restraints and Falls

 

Our quality improvement products are uniquely designed to improve health outcomes in a variety of settings. Our professional staff carefully researches each product to assure that Primaris' quality standards are met. The product must be proven effective, practical and easy to implement before we offer it to our providers. And, products are constantly being added or revised to assure that you receive the most up-to-date tools. Please select a health care setting and condition from the menu below. 

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Note: You are currently viewing tools for the Nursing Home setting. To search all of Primaris' tools, click here

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Restraints, Enablers and Safety Considerations

Publication #: MO-12-04-REST

This tool will help you plan individualized care and address risks associated with restraints.

Device Decision Tree: Restraint, Enabler and Safety Hazard

Publication #: MO-11-08-REST

This tool, which replaces the previous Restraint and/or Enabler Flow chart and the Side Rail/Alternative Decision Tree, provides a step by step criteria for determining a device’s effect on a resident.

CMS’ rewrite of F323 "Accidents" about death caused by devices is also incorporated into this tool.

Bed Mobility and Transfer Assist Devices

Publication #: MO-09-36-REST

This tool was developed to provide homes with suggestions for alternative devices that will assist residents but also retain their independence in transfers and bed mobility. Please note that this document serves as an informational guideline. Primaris does not endorse specific products.

Restraint Tracking Tool

Publication #: MO-09-41-REST

This tool calculates your restraint rates in a convenient Excel file. Enter in your monthly data and this spreadsheet will automatically calculate the % in comparison to the total # of residents at the home, as well as YTD, and produces 2 visual graphs that will show progress over time.

Be sure to click on the “instructions” tab before you begin.

Fall Risk Assessment

Publication #: MO-09-09-NH

This tool helps assess a resident's fall risk factors over time based on categories such as mental status, mobility and medical history. A checklist system allows for easy identification of risk factors and a gradient scale characterizes each risk from low to high.

Restraint & Falls Alternative Interventions

Publication #: MO-08-51-REST

Following assessment, refer to this chart for suggested interventions to avoid restraints utilization and/or reduce falls. This chart is divided into the following intervention categories, review each section for interventions specific to each resident:

  • Resident Interventions
  • Family Interventions
  • Environmental Interventions
  • Staff Interventions

Eliminating Restraints in Your Home

Publication #: MO-08-50-REST

This checklist can help you plan and organize when eliminating restraint use at your nursing home.

Legal Perspectives on Physical Restraint Use

Publication #: MO-08-47-REST

Lawsuits are being won for harmful outcomes from using restraints; but fewer and fewer are won for harmful outcomes from non-use of restraints.

This document provides an overview of some of the defenses, arguments and legal interests around restraint use and falls. Please note that this material for informational purposes only; Primaris does not provide legal advice. Please consult an attorney before taking any legal action regarding the issues discussed here.

Bed Rail Safety Check

Publication #: MO-09-38-REST

When using bed rails, close attention must be given to the design of the rails and the relationship between rails and other parts of the bed. This tool outlines the seven zones on a bed system where there is a potential for entrapment. The third page can be used for individual documentation.

Improve Your Balance in 10 Minutes a Day

This handout for residents and patients from the American Geriatrics Society describes three simple exercises for improving balance.

Great Escapes – The Wandering Dilemma

This brochure by the University of Iowa Geriatric Education Center describes the problems associated with wandering and discusses possible interventions.

A Guide for Caregivers: Individualized Wheelchair Seating for Older Adults

Download and print this manual for a comprehensive look at individual seating – identifying a person’s body contours, range of motion, orientation in space – and implementing a seating system that best positions and supports the person for comfort and function.

A Guide to Bed Safety: The Facts on Bed Rails in Hospitals, Nursing Homes and Home Health Care

This brochure simply and concisely discusses: bed rail entrapment statistics; the benefits and risks of bed rails; and meeting residents’ needs for safety. It was developed by the Food and Drug Administration in March 2006.

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Making the Right Choice

Publication #: MO-08-35-REST

Download the updated Primaris “Making the Right Choice” brochure that provides easy-to-understand facts about restraints for residents and families. Choose from the black and white (1st file at right) or color version (2nd file at right). Then, print as a two-sided document to have a two-page handout.

You might choose to include this brochure as a helpful resource in your admission packet along with “Safety Without Restraints: Fall and Restraint Facts for Residents and Families.”

Post Fall 72-Hour Monitoring Report

Publication #: MO-08-40-REST

This assessment should be completed at the following intervals for follow up for all falls. A fall that is unwitnessed, or in which the head is struck, requires neurological checks. Any change in resident condition requires a phone call to the primary care physician.

Wheelchair Seating Assessment

Publication #: MO-08-03-REST

Perform this assessment to assure that residents are secure in their wheelchairs but also comfortable. Certain elements of a wheelchair can be considered a restraint, based upon individual assessment.

Safety without Restraints: Fall and Restraint Facts for Residents and Families

Publication #: MO-08-39-REST

This flyer for residents and families highlights a personal story – one daughter’s conflicting desire to respect her mother’s desire for independence while keeping her safe from falls. It also provides a brief review of prominent research outlining the risks of restraints, including bed side rails. Print as a two-sided page to have a one-page handout.

Systems Investigative Audit Tool-Restraints

Publication #: MO-08-36-REST

This tool can help evaluate the decision-making process and adequacy of the facility’s method for the prevention or reduction of restraint use.

Falls Analysis Log

Publication #: MO-06-55-NH

Use this log to document resident falls in a facility over the course of one month.

Major Premises of Quality Improvement

Publication #: MO-06-54-NH

Document outlines basic elements of quality improvement.