Comfort round program results in fall reduction at Steeves & Rozema's Lanark Heights


A fall-prevention strategy centred on providing residents “comfort rounds” was piloted in the Maple neighbourhood of Lanark Heights Sept. 17-30, resulting in a significant reduction in resident falls.

The number of falls declined in the Maple neighbourhood to one, during the time the program was piloted, from eight during the two weeks previous.

staff members Katie and Amrit hold up a piece of paper that shows the results of comfort rounds in reducing fallsThe Kitchener long-term care community’s team members are attributing the success to the comfort rounds, which see team members visit residents in their rooms every one to two hours to provide necessary positioning, help them to the washroom, check their pain status and to ensure items they may need are within reaching distance.

By checking in during these intervals, team members are ensuring residents have everything they need, are comfortable and do not need to make unnecessary movements that put them at risk of falling.

As an accountability measure, team members initial the comfort round sheet after each round is completed.

Another benefit of the project has been that team members from every department – not just nurses and personal support workers – have a role to play to ensure its success, says Amrit Kaur, Lanark Heights’ assistant manager of resident care.

“(Comfort rounding) is every team member’s responsibility in every department,” she says, adding that if a housekeeping team member, for instance, is in a resident’s room performing their duties, they can also check in on the resident to make sure they are comfortable and to see if they need anything.

Due to the project’s success, the team is continuing to perform comfort rounds in the Maple neighbourhood and has now expanded the program to the Pine neighbourhood.


In photo: Katie Griffin and Amrit Kaur, who are involved with comfort rounds at Lanark Heights.

This story was published by Axiom News, originally on Steeves & Rozema's website. Reposted with permission.