Among hospital acquired conditions (HACs), patient falls are one of the most preventable, yet they continue to be a persistent problem for hospitals across the country.

According to The Joint Commission, hundreds of thousands of patients fall in the U.S. every year. Anywhere from 30-50% of those falls will result in injury, some of which will add over 6 additional days to a patient's hospital stay. The average cost of a fall has been calculated to cost approximately $14,000.

There are numerous ways hospital staff can make it easy to identify patients who are a fall risk; they often use different color socks, bed alarms, arm bands and a variety of other methods.

Using Whiteboards to Solve a Common Problem

Including custom dry erase boards in a comprehensive fall prevention plan, the risk of falls can decrease. Placing these boards at nurses stations and in patient rooms will help care providers identify patients who are at high risk of falling. Customized boards display detailed information about particular fall risks for patients as well as specifics pertaining to patient mobility.

Helpful Tips:

• Use color-codes to quickly identify the level of risk a patient is of falling.

• Make a note if a patient is on a particular medication that increases the risk of falling.

• Make specific notes regarding how the patient should be transferred, helped to the bathroom, etc.

Whiteboards, particularly custom whiteboards, should be used in any comprehensive fall prevention plan. With training and compliance, any staff member that walks into a room should be able to easily identify a patient that is at risk, and take necessary steps to help the patient and prevent the safety incident from occurring.

When patients feel safe and understand their care, they are less likely to be readmitted and more likely to feel satisfied with their care, leading to higher patient satisfaction and higher Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements.

At VividBoard, we specialize in designing and supplying custom whiteboards that foster communication between patients and nurses and help to make patient rooms safer places to stay. To learn how you can implement communication boards into your patient rooms, contact our team today.