My 91 year old dad has Parkinson's and dementia and is in hospice. We are currently caring for him at home with a live-in caregiver. But things are getting more and more difficult and we are looking into transferring him to a nursing home. He has been bedridden since being released from the hospital in late August. Hospice has supplied a bed with full rails but he tries to get out of bed a few times a day. He can get his knees over the rail but then wears himself out. He does not remember that his legs can't hold him. We have applied to a nursing home with really good ratings and recommendations, but they do not use full bed rails or alarms because they are considered restraints. I have read that more and more nursing homes are moving away from restraints. The good news is that the nursing home will have the ability to get him out of bed and into a chair. Should we be worried about the lack of restraints?
I know that hearing about a fall after-the-fact doesnt ease worries about falls and injuries, but it does give you a way to monitor safety.
Ask about their falls and injury reports to get an idea of their safety record. You certainly don't want to see a high number of falls and injuries, but you also dont want to see absolute zero. If it's 0, most likely they are doctoring their stats, because unfortunately, falls arent 100% preventable without restraints.
My dad has fallen out of bed at most rehabs he's been in. Luckily, he never got hurt. He tends to fall more in placement than he does at home. THe plan to fix things for him is usually to put the bed down as low as it can go and put mats on the floor when in bed.
Alarms are not considered a restraint but they are often not reliable as they go off very easily. What is used more is an alarm that is attached to the chair and the resident and when they try to get out of the chair the alarm will sound. Less likely to go off with just normal movement.
The use of restraints in Facilities have not been used in many years. (thank goodness)
Even the use of hand protectors to prevent scratching at wounds can be considered a restraint.
I would not be concerned about the lack of restraints, I would be concerned if they used them
I bought a netted cover at a specialty baby shop for my daughter’s crib. My youngest daughter was an escape artist!
She was a tiny little thing but was very agile and climbed out of her crib. She was too little to put in a ‘big girl’ bed so we had to do something.
I didn’t realize that they made those for adult beds. Good idea!