Patient Fall Prevention

…A Feature of Dalcon Alert

Patient falls are listed as a Never Event by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). CMS defines never events as, “errors in medical care that are clearly identifiable, preventable, and serious in their consequences for patients, and that indicate a real problem in the safety and credibility of a health care facility.” Since June 2008, when CMS mandated that they would refuse to reimburse hospitals for a list of identified never events, limiting the occurrence of patient fall never events has been of utmost concern to hospitals across the nation.

Limiting Patient Falls with Dalcon Alert

A main benefit of the Dalcon Alert(Pat. Pending) ability to immediately update caregivers on patient room events is related to patient fall prevention. When a fall risk patient attempts to get out of a bed or chair and trips an alarm, staff are immediately notified of the exact location of the incident via a notification message. Knowing the precise location of the fall alarm allows staff to rapidly respond to assist the fall risk patient.

As an additional feature proven effective in buying staff additional time to respond, The Dalcon Alert Remote Alert Monitor (RAM) has built in audible voice announcements. When patients set off a fall alarm, the RAM emits an audible voice message telling them to “please sit back down, help is coming” (or any other custom recorded message).

Please Note: Once installed, the Dalcon Alert System also helps staff manage other types of alerts such as “Bed Turn” alerts and IV pump alarms.

How Dalcon Alert Works to Prevent Falls

NEW UPDATED dalcon alert fall prevention diagram copy1 Patient Fall Prevention

     

  1. Fall prevention monitoring devices are plugged into the Remote Alert Monitor (RAM). Such devices include but are not limited to:
    • Bed alarm systems
    • Bed exit pads
    • Bed exit tether cords
  2. When a fall-risk patient sets off an alarm from a fall prevention device plugged into the RAM, the RAM immediately begins playing a vocal announcement telling the patient to please sit back down. This can be a canned message, or a custom message recorded by a family member of the patient.
  3. Next the RAM wirelessly sends an alert to the DCM communications server. The DCM server logs the alert into a database, and then simultaneously pushes out a notification to the Alarm Management Software and caregiver’s wireless devices.
  4. The Alarm Management Software display at the nursing station shows information about the active fall alerts in the Dalcon Alert system.
  5. Caregivers receive text message notifications directly on their wireless devices displaying the fall alert and location.

PDF icon Patient Fall PreventionSee also the White Paper, “An Assessment of Falls in Patients’ Rooms and Methods of Prevention” which analyzes the severity of patient fall liability for hospitals; and methods of fall prevention.

Learn More About Dalcon Alert

To learn more about Dalcon Alert, and how it can limit the prevalence of “Never Events,” please call (877) WE-UNIFY (938-6439) or click here to submit a question online.