"Fall prevention" has been the jargon used in the healthcare business for many years to describe the concept of taking actions to keep fall risk patients or residents from falling. On an individual event basis, if those actions taken result in the patient not falling, that fall has been prevented. What then is the problem with the phrase "fall prevention?"
Generally the phrase fall prevention is used to describe a program, procedure, equipment, or sometimes even a job title. In other words, it usually describes the desired result of a comprehensive program rather than a specific incident or event. Therein lies the problem.
Webster’s Dictionary defines prevent as "keep from taking place." In the case of falls, that could be construed to mean that anything labeled fall prevention will keep falls from taking place. While some falls will hopefully not take place as a result of these efforts (individually they were prevented), there is nothing procedurally or product-wise that will keep all falls from taking place. Many people, procedures, and products work in concert to reduce the incidence of falls, but falls in general cannot totally be prevented.
It is for this reason that we at Bed-Check have chosen to change the description of what we do from fall prevention to fall reduction. Fall prevention has been used for so long in the healthcare field to describe this subject that changing it will be somewhat difficult. But as the leader in the field of manufacturers of monitoring equipment for this purpose, we feel a responsibility to set the course for the industry.
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