www.justicecenter.ny.gov Spotlight on Prevention: Best Practices for Body Checks COULD THIS HAPPEN IN YOUR PROGRAM? CASE STUDY Case #1 Mary lives at the Main Street IRA and is mainly non-verbal. She recently had several falls at the IRA. Staff documented the falls, completed body checks afterward, and alerted nursing to the fact that Mary was falling a lot. Mary’s nurse made an appointment for her to see her doctor and wrote a note in Mary’s communication log for staff to be aware that Mary had an upcoming appointment and to remind staff of Mary’s increased risk for falls. That weekend, the Main Street IRA was staffed primarily with relief staff, some of whom had never worked there before. Mary tripped and fell as she was walking from the living room to the kitchen. She immediately stood up and continued to the kitchen where she used sign language to ask for some juice. The staff poured Mary some juice, patted her on the back and said, “Glad you’re okay Mary! Did you have a nice trip?” The staff did not document the fall, did not contact nursing about the fall and did not complete a body check to look for any injuries. When Mary saw the doctor, he noticed that Mary had a large bruise on her knee.
CASE CONCERNS
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