There are several ways you can utilize the Fall and Restraint Reduction Course offered on-line, courtesy of Bed-Check. This comprehensive and objective tool can help you with staff education, survey preparedness, quality assurance and family interactions. The best news is that it is free and comes with CEUs for nursing staff. Here are just a few ideas:

1. Use the course as a mandatory and yearly competency for your clinical staff to update their staff education records and assure that you have given your staff members the most up to date education on fall and restraint reduction techniques.

2. When you are in need of a Plan of Correction around any survey issues related to falls, consider adding completion of this course by key personnel to your Plan of Correction. Because the course is objective and measurable, it will be recognized by State Surveyors as an approved intervention, and it will save on administrative training and time as well.

3. Hold a contest around the who logs on and completes the course first to who gets the best score on the course tests as a way to jump start a patient safety campaign or fall reduction initiative.

4. Allow family members who are preparing to take a resident home to participate in the course as a way to prepare them for what signs and symptoms might indicate that their loved one is at an increased risk for falls, or what things they should consider to safeguard their loved one once he or she returns home. Remember, anyone can access this course, free, from any online computer anywhere.

5. Use the free CEUs as a recruitment technique for new nursing staff. Often, potential candidates will want to know what value added benefits you can offer to them. A comprehensive, approved course that can be taken at home is great benefit that you can use to set yourself apart from other employers.

These are just a few ideas on how you can use this course to improve staff knowledge, create a database with objective findings about how you have educated your staff on these important issues, and how you can save a tremendous amount of administrative time providing this course versus trying to prepare one yourself. But don't limit yourself to these ideas - use your imagination. It's free, so you have nothing to lose by using it as you see fit for you and your facility.