Hospitals in pursuit of excellence

Bed Alarm Removal Initiative

Approximately two years ago frontline staff presented a proposal to remove bed and chair alarms facility wide. The rationale was that alarms were noisy, often agitated the residents/patients and did not prevent falls but only alerted staff that a fall occurred. There was no evidence based research supporting the notion that bed alarms prevented falls. With the support of the multidisciplinary fall committee, a six month pilot was conducted utilizing the Plan Do Study Act (PDSA) methodology.