PATIENT FALLS: Canadian study evaluates rubber flooring in long-term care setting

Falls are a major health concern for older adults world-wide, particularly in long-term care (LTC), where approximately 60% of residents fall at least once per year, and 30% of falls cause injury…”

The value of installing a synthetic rubber flooring (compliant flooring) over a concrete floor was compared to plywood over concrete in this randomized trial conducted at one long term care facility in British Columbia.  There were 74 private rooms in the intervention group and 76 in the control group in this 4-year study.  The researchers concluded that the rubber flooring was “not effective for preventing serious fall-related injuries in LTC.”  This article includes interesting tables showing details about the nearly 2,000 patient falls recorded over a 4-year period in this one Canadian facility.  The vast majority of falls occurred in the patient room (excluding the bathroom).  Falls were most likely to occur in the evening and least likely to occur in the afternoon.  There were 85 falls resulting in serious injury,

Source: Mackey, D.C., and others. (2019, June 24). The Flooring for Injury Prevention (FLIP) study of compliant flooring for the prevention of fall-related injuries in long-term care: A randomized trial. PLoS Medicine, 16(6).  Click here for free full text:  https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1002843&type=printable  Posted by AHA Resource Center (312) 422-2050, rc@aha.org