Sparrow Fall Mitigation Technology: Its Financial Benefit on Elder Care Facility Profitability

摘要

Falls are endemic in elder care facilities. Unacceptably high fall rates in elder care settings have been an intractable health care problem and an extraordinary financial burden for business owners for years. In this paper, we demonstrate the enormous financial impact of falls in a hypothetical 400 resident staffed nursing facility (SNF). Then we confirm that a 50% reduction in fall rates is possible if the facility caregivers can adhere to a 60 minute rounds standard. However, maintaining rounds has also been shown to be extraordinarily difficult. But an answer is emerging. Sparrow, now in clinical evaluation, is providing mobile and busy caregivers the ability to maintain both 60 minute rounds intervals, and log care activity with the tap of a finger. Caregivers can also receive the information they need to maintain awareness about the movement and posture of an unobserved and unattended wheelchair occupant. Thus, fall rate reductions are not a possibility but becoming a reality.