Beaumont Rehabilitation and Skilled Nursing Center at Westborough recently partnered with Duke University and Hebrew SeniorLife in a new fall-prevention program, Nursing Home Prevention of Injury in Dementia. Through this collaboration, Beaumont staff will learn more about factors that contribute to falls and how to better reduce the risk of injury.
Sponsored by the National Institute on Aging and National Institute on Nursing Research, this pilot program aims to keep residents independent and build on the fall-prevention work that the Beaumont team already does.
With permission of the resident or appointed health care proxy, a research team will first assess Residents who are high-risk for falls and review their medical records. After the assessment, a trained Injury Prevention Nurse will recommend monitoring plans and different therapies. The types of recommendations include starting treatment for osteoporosis or reducing certain medications that increase risk of falls.
During the program, a team of experts from Duke University and Hebrew SeniorLife will invite providers and nurses to informational sessions and will offer evidence-based educational material on deprescribing and osteoporosis treatment. In addition, during the active phase of the program, direct care staff will participate in weekly meetings with the Injury Prevention Nurse, and providers will be presented with a template noting medication recommendations and monitoring plans. Throughout the program, providers and other staff members will have the opportunity to participate in case-based videoconferences.
Director of Nursing Services at Beaumont at Westborough, Nicole Murphy, is particularly “interested to see the role of prescription medications and falls.”
“We decided to participate in this program because the elderly population, and especially those with dementia, are very high-risk for falls; any opportunity for extra information and support to decrease the risk of this happening is very helpful,” explains Murphy.
Murphy continues, “The nurses and I are really looking forward to learning different approaches for fall-prevention; we always want to continue our education to make Beaumont the safest and best it can be for our current and future residents.”
Director of Operations at SALMON Health and Retirement, Ed Blake, is also looking forward to the program; “We go above and beyond in our skilled nursing centers to provide the best care possible to our Residents. In addition to their regular workload, the nursing team at Beaumont at Westborough is taking part in another learning opportunity to better help our residents.”
“I’m proud of the team and grateful for the opportunity to partner with Duke University and Hebrew SeniorLife to continue to strive for more,” concludes Blake.
Since 1952, SALMON Health and Retirement has been serving Central Massachusetts. SALMON’s Beaumont at Worcester community became the nation’s first COVID-19 recovery center for seniors. To learn more about SALMON’s continuum of care with services on multiple campuses and the way in which the organization is fighting COVID-19 head-on, visit www.SalmonHealth.com or call 508-366-9933.
