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Hospital Bathroom Designs that Prevent Falls
With baby boomers aging across countries and continents, falls will become an immediate problem to millions—in hospitals, long-term care facilities, and homes.
Recent studies have shown that most falls are witnessed and happen in the bathroom. Falls are the leading cause of injury and account for 6.5 percent of reported sentinel events.
These unexpected injuries have a direct medical cost of $34 billion each year according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Healthcare designers have been heading to the call by designing hospital bathrooms in a way that will prevent falls and other injuries.
Below are five design tips that resulted from several studies conducted on the movements that get people down. The overall concept is to design bathrooms that reduce turning as much as possible.
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Avoid swinging doors in patient bathrooms and use sliding doors instead.
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Use wider door openings to accommodate the patient and an IV pole.
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Explore different heights for the toilet seat (e.g., increasing the height).
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Provide folding grab bars on both sides of the toilet, along with space to accommodate a caregiver.
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Provide automatic flushing or place the flush handle/button at a location that enables operation from a standing position.
Source: http://www.healthcaredesignmagazine.com/article/new-view-patient-falls
