Reconfiguring the Patient Room to Increase Patient Stability

Reconfiguring the Patient Room for a Fall Protection Strategy to Increase Patient Stability During Ambulation

Despite decades of research into patient falls, falls and the injuries incurred continue to be a serious threat to patient safety. Fall rates continue to be unacceptably high. The purpose of this project is to increase the safety of a hospital room for patient mobility, using innovative simulation strategies and patient-centric design.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Elderly, Frail; Accidental Falls; Hospitals
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Room configuration

Detailed Description

Despite decades of research into patient falls, falls and the injuries incurred continue to be a serious threat to patient safety. Fall rates continue to be unacceptably high. The purpose of this project is to increase the safety of a hospital room for patient mobility, using innovative simulation strategies and patient-centric design.

An innovative simulation environment will be built to enable rapid assessment of room layout and fixture positioning and patient stability. The results from multiple simulations will be used to fabricate a prototype room layout that will be tested by patients with Parkinson disease and reviewed and updated with input from other relevant stakeholders. A final room prototype will be built and tested. Results will be translated and shared with all stakeholders and disseminated for implementation.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 18
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Utah
    • Salt Lake City, Utah, United States, 84108
      • Dumke Health Professions Building

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 60 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Frail elderly, impaired gait

Exclusion Criteria:

• Use of walking aid

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Other
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Other: Participant stability with various room configurations; Single-arm. Ergonomically exploring patient stability moving around various configurations of a hospital room.	Other: Room configuration; Adjust distance, handrails, degrees of turn for participant

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Gait: increased stability	Increased balance	24 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Utah
• Collaborators: The Center for Health Design
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Bob G Wong, PhD, University of Utah; Principal Investigator: Andrew Merryweather, PhD, University of Utah

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): July 14, 2022
• Primary Completion (Actual): September 29, 2024
• Study Completion (Actual): September 29, 2024

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: June 25, 2019
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 28, 2019
• First Posted (Actual): July 1, 2019

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): March 28, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 24, 2025
• Last Verified: March 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: 00099410

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No