Falls in care homes are a critical challenge impacting resident well-being, staff workload, and the financial sustainability of care facilities. 

The statistics are evident: older adults in care homes are three times more likely to fall than those living in their own homes and face an emergency hospital admission rate nearly four times higher due to falls. With falls contributing to a staggering 40% of care home admissions, it’s clear that ensuring resident safety from falls is important.

For years, care providers have diligently sought solutions, and reactive systems have emerged as a common approach. These systems, designed to alert staff after a fall occurs, have undoubtedly played a role in improving response times and awareness.

But, in the search for true resident safety, we must ask: are reactive measures enough?

While valuable as a first step, relying solely on reactive systems is like waiting for the alarm to sound after the fire has already started. 

True resident safety demands a more forward-thinking approach – one that steps ahead of the fall and focuses on proactive prevention.

Understanding Reactive Fall Systems: A Necessary First Step (But Not the Final Answer)

Reactive fall systems encompass technologies designed to trigger an alert once a fall or similar incident has already happened. This could include acoustic monitoring that listens for the sound of a fall, wearable alarms activated upon impact, or even regular manual checks by staff to identify residents who have fallen.

These systems offer undeniable benefits. 

They can:

• Expedite Response Times: Alert staff quickly after a fall, potentially reducing time spent on the floor and improving outcomes.
• Increase Incident Awareness: Ensure that falls are not missed, especially in busy care environments or during the night.
• Provide a Basic Safety Net: Offer a level of security compared to having no technological support at all.

However, it’s crucial to recognise the inherent limitations of a reactive approach. By their very nature, these systems only engage after a fall has taken place.

Consider these critical drawbacks:

• The Fall Has Already Occurred: The fundamental issue is that reactive systems do not prevent the fall itself. Residents have already experienced the trauma, pain, and potential injury of a fall.
• Focus on Reaction, Not Prevention: The entire system is geared towards managing the consequences of a fall, not stopping it from happening in the first place.
• Response Delays Still Possible: Even with an alert, there's still a crucial window of time between the fall, the alert being processed, and staff reaching the resident—every second counts, especially for vulnerable individuals.
• Addressing Symptoms, Not Causes: Reactive systems provide no insight into why falls are occurring. They don't help care teams understand underlying risk factors or implement preventative strategies to reduce future incidents.

The Proactive Shift: Stepping Ahead of Falls for Enhanced Safety

To increase resident safety, we need to shift our focus to proactive fall prevention. This suggests moving beyond simply reacting to falls and instead aiming to prevent them. Proactive systems are designed to identify the risk before a fall occurs, enabling timely intervention and significantly reducing the likelihood of incidents in the first place.

The core principles of proactive fall prevention are:

• Risk Prediction: Leveraging technology to identify individuals at a higher risk of falling based on various factors, including changes in their movement and behaviour.
• Behavioural Analysis: Utilising sophisticated analysis of movement patterns to understand subtle indicators often preceding falls.
• Early Intervention: Empowering care staff with timely alerts and insights, allowing them to intervene before a potential fall eventuates. This might involve alerts when the resident gets up, sits, or raises in bed, providing fall analysis for self-recovered falls, adjusting care plans, providing targeted support, or modifying the environment.
• Data-Driven Prevention: Generating valuable data and insights that inform preventative strategies and personalised care plans and continuously improve fall prevention efforts across the care home.

The benefits of proactive fall prevention are transformative, offering a significant leap beyond what reactive systems can achieve:

• Meaningful Reduction in Fall Incidence: By actively preventing falls, proactive systems aim for the ultimate goal: fewer falls happening in the first place, not just faster responses after they occur.
• Minimising Injuries and Improving Well-being: Preventing falls directly translates to fewer fall-related injuries, reduced pain and suffering, and a greater sense of security and well-being for residents.
• Optimised and Targeted Resource Allocation: Proactive systems enable care teams to focus their attention and resources on genuinely at-risk residents, leading to more efficient and effective care delivery.
• Cultivating a Culture of Prevention: Adopting proactive technology fosters a fundamental shift in mindset, embedding preventative safety measures into the fabric of care home operations.

The Arquella Approach: Embracing Proactive Safety

Arquella Sense embodies the philosophy of proactive prevention. It's designed as a proactive system, utilising advanced touchless sensor technology powered by cogvisAI combined with Arquella’s digital nurse call system and call-to-mobile. This innovative combination allows for movement detection, reliably triggering alarms to events and indicators of increased fall risk before a fall occurs.

Arquella Sense is built on the principles of proactive prevention:

• Touchless Sensors for Dignified Monitoring: Respecting resident privacy and dignity is vital. Our touchless sensors unobtrusively monitor movement without requiring wearables or intrusive cameras.
• AI-Powered Behavioral Analysis: The intelligent 3D smart sensor analyses movement data and processes in real-time to discern patterns indicative of pre-fall behaviour, providing fall analysis and a deeper understanding of individual risk.
• Real-time Proactive Alerts: Arquella Sense delivers timely alerts to care staff, not just when a fall happens, but when a resident exhibits behaviours suggesting an elevated risk, enabling preventative action.
• Seamless Integration with Arquella Connect: Arquella Sense is designed to work within the Arquella Connect ecosystem, facilitating a holistic and integrated approach to preventative care management.

Arquella is committed to a proactive care philosophy. We believe in empowering care providers to move beyond simply reacting to falls and to actively create safer environments where residents can thrive, secure in the knowledge that their well-being is being proactively protected.

Moving Towards a Future of Fall Prevention

Reactive systems have served a purpose, but as we strive for ever-higher standards of resident safety and well-being, it’s clear that they represent an incomplete solution. The future of fall management lies in proactive prevention – in technologies and approaches that anticipate risk, enable early intervention, and ultimately reduce the incidence of falls themselves.

About Arquella | Innovating for Enhanced Care

Arquella is a leading provider of innovative, interoperable health and social care technology solutions. We develop integrated systems and tools to support various aspects of care delivery, all focusing on improving resident outcomes and efficiency for care providers.

From proactive fall prevention to connected care ecosystems, Arquella is creating a future where technology seamlessly supports compassionate and effective care. 

Learn about our full suite of solutions and how technology can benefit your organisation at www.arquella.co.uk.

About cogvisAI | The Smart Care Solution

cogvisAI was developed to meet the challenges of resident care in the most sustainable way possible. With the help of 3D-smart sensors, the system detects movements in the room, analyses and processes this information directly on the device and alerts in case of an emergency via the nurse call system or the carer’s handheld devices.

The module-based care system was created using computer vision, deep learning and artificial intelligence. 

Thanks to cogvisAI, 72% of falls can be prevented and repetitive sources of falls eliminated – for a safer and healthier life for our elders.