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Biomechanical Evaluation of Injury Severity Associated with Patient Falls from Bed |
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| Authors: | Bonnie Bowers MSBME John Lloyd PhD W. Lee PhD G. Powell‐Cope PhD ARNP FAAN A. Baptiste MA |
| Affiliation: | 1. Bonnie Bowers, MSBME, is a student at the University of South Florida, College of Engineering in Tampa, FL.;2. John D. Lloyd, PhD, is the director of the Biomechanics Laboratory at the V Patient Saftey Research Center in Tampa, FL.A;3. W. Lee, PhD, is a professor at the University of South Florida in Tampa, FL.;4. G. Powell‐Cope, PhD ARNP FAAN, is associate director of the V Patient Safety Research Center in Tampa, FL.A;5. A. Baptiste, MA, is a research associate at the VA Patient Safety Research Center in Tampa, FL. |
| Abstract: | This study investigated the severity of injuries associated with falling from bed and the effectiveness of injury‐prevention strategies. Injury criteria were calculated for head‐ and feet‐first falls from six bed heights onto a tiled surface and floor mat. These values indicated a 25% chance of experiencing a serious head injury as a result of falling feet‐first from a bed height of 97.5 cm onto a tiled surface. Risk of injury increased to 40% when extrapolated for the height added by bedrails. Using a floor mat decreased this risk to less than 1% for bedrail height for feet‐first falls. Calculated impact forces indicated a risk of skull fracture when hitting the tiled surface. Floor mats and height‐adjustable beds positioned to the lowest height should be used to decrease the risk of injury associated with falling from bed. |
| Keywords: | acceleration falls head injury criteria injury prevention hospital bed |