myHalo’s automatic fall detection detects any fall – regardless of whether the fall caused an injury.  A fall that would normally go unreported, is now detected and recorded by myHalo.  This automatically creates a record of all falls – a “paper trail”  of important fall history.

Why is this important?

Here is a tip to help you gain the most value from your myHalo system:

Tip 1 – myHalo detects minor unreported falls

myHalo’s automatic fall detection detects any fall – regardless of whether the fall caused an injury.  A fall that would normally go unreported, is now detected and recorded by myHalo.  This automatically creates a record of all falls – a “paper trail”  of important fall history.

Why is this important?

Minor falls lead to catastrophic falls

Studies have shown that if you have had one fall, you are 2.5 times – 4 times more likely to have a subsequent fall within the next six months.  By detecting minor falls and understanding why these falls are happening, gives you an opportunity to take action and potentially prevent future catastrohic falls.

What causes falls?
In an earlier blog post, I described four ways to help prevent falls by addressing the most common causes of falls.  This list included intrinsic factors such as deteriorating muscle mass or poor vision as well as extrinsic factors such as inadequate lighting, clutter in the home, or even adverse effects of medication.  Many of these can be addressed easily.  Ask your physician to conduct a fall risk assessment test.

Help for Care Providers

Automatic fall detection means automatic fall documentation.  For professional care providers inside an assisted living facility this offers added benefit.  It is important to discover minor fall incidents that may otherwise go unnoticed.  When a senior falls inside a facility, it may or may not be reported.  In the absence of injury or a witness, chances are it will never be reported to the appropriate staff.  While some seniors may feel that drawing attention to the issue may be bring unwanted scrutiny, masking the incident potentially exposes them to more risk.

Now, by automatically generating a history of fall incidence, care providers can create evidence based care plans armed with accurate data and a true picture of resident fall risk.  Ultimately our goal is to avoid the falls that cause the injuries.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010 at 7:04 PM and is filed under Halo Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.