Becker's Hospital Review

85 FINANCE CMO / CARE DELIVERY How this Nebraska hospital cut patient falls in half By Mackenzie Bean K earney (Neb.) Regional Medical Center has cut its pa- tient fall rate in half since launching a safety program last October, Kearney Hub reported June 10. When the No Falls program was implemented, Kearney Re- gional's fall rate was 5.7 per 1,000 patient days. This figure now sits at 2.6 per 1,000, though it did dip even lower to 1.1 for a while, according to Shari Freeman, the medical surgi- cal unit manager who launched the program. Every patient's fall risk is detailed on a large board at each unit's nursing station, and staff reassess each patient's risk every 12 hours. High-risk patients are given yellow hospi- tal gowns and socks and have a yellow light outside their rooms, which serve as visual indicators for staff. Kearney Regional is also implementing patient beds with better fall alarms that alert nurses if high-risk patients get out of bed. A new task force is studying how additional equipment could reduce falls. The hospital keeps track of how many days each depart- ment has been fall-free. This spring, the medical-surgical unit went 84 days without a fall. "If a patient falls and is injured, the average additional cost of that is $30,000, plus an increased hospital stay," Ms. Free- man told Kearney Hub, adding that most patients have been receptive to the new rules. "We tell patients, 'We are here for your safety. We don't want you to get hurt,'" she said. n Henry Ford launches 'Project Mobility' to improve patient, employee safety By Erica Carbajal A s part of Project Mobility, an initiative launched at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, patient lifts will be installed to improve both patient and employee safety. Active lifts, passive lifts, ceiling lifts, lateral transfer and repositioning tools will be installed in each of the hospi- tal's units, according to a June 15 announcement. The project is in partnership with Atlas Lift Tech and Arjo Diligent Clinical Consultants, and aims to prevent patient falls and infections, and overexertion injuries among healthcare workers. "Our patient care experience is built around safety, and Project Mobility will enhance our safeguards by reducing the risk of falls and infections, length of stay, readmissions, as well as the risk of musculoskeletal in- juries among staff," said Gwen Gnam, RN, chief nursing officer and vice president of patient care services at Henry Ford Hospital. "As part of the program, Atlas mo- bility coaches partner with licensed Arjo Diligent Con- sultants and are at Henry Ford Hospital seven days per week to provide customized safe patient handling and mobility training while working side-by-side with our clinical team members as they mobilize patients." n tion as a superspreader event, with a CDC re- port finding cases linked to the event spilled over to neighboring Minnesota. e agency's report found 34 percent of Minnesota's 87 counties had at least one COVID-19 case epi- demiologically linked to the rally. Social distancing. Americans have always liked their personal space, with the pandemic bringing new meaning to this preference. To slow the spread of COVID-19, the CDC rec- ommends limiting close contact with others, and to practice social or physical distancing by staying at least 6 feet from other people. Over the last year, across private and public sectors, social distancing was implemented. It's still unknown exactly how effective social distanc- ing is in slowing the spread of COVID-19, but the measure will certainly have a long-term ef- fect on the way Americans conceptualize space and position themselves around others. Surge. Spring surge, summer surge and winter surge: While COVID-19 cases have ebbed and flowed throughout the pandemic, this term became widely adopted to refer to large spikes in cases, hospitalizations, and in some cas- es, deaths. e word is oen coupled with the season in which an influx of cases occurred in the U.S. — spring and summer of 2020, and the 2020-21 winter season. e winter surge was the darkest of the pandemic, with an unprece- dented influx of infections. Hospitals and health systems across the country canceled or delayed elective procedures and opened field hospitals, among other measures to adapt to the unprece- dented demand COVID-19 surges brought. Variants. Around the same time vaccines were becoming a reality, the term "variant" was beginning to emerge in public dialogue. As contact tracers and researchers discovered different mutations of the virus, they identi- fied some that spread more rapidly than oth- ers, such as the alpha variant first identified in the U.K. ese coronavirus variants still threaten pandemic progress, and the virus's evolution continues to underscore the impor- tance of vaccination. Without mass vaccina- tion, or herd immunity, the virus can mutate further and potentially evade vaccines, and therefore, evade elimination. Virtual. e word "virtual" seeped into al- most every aspect of daily life aer COVID-19 highlighted the need for social distancing. Everything from work happy hours and baby showers to religious services and court hearings went virtual. Healthcare was no dif- ferent. Hospitals and health systems had to rapidly build out their virtual care offerings, including telemedicine and remote patient monitoring, as COVID-19 patients flooded their facilities. Clinicians and the public be- came more comfortable with virtual visits. Long aer the pandemic ends, this virtual footprint will remain stamped on society as we try to find a delicate balance between vir- tual and in-person interactions. n

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