Staff and patient safety: Issues surrounding the use of fall‐injury‐protection bedside floor mats at a large southeastern VA medical center community living center

Staff and patient injuries have been realized secondary to the use of fall‐injury protection bedside floor mats at certain VA hospitals. The purpose of this investigation was to ascertain whether patient and staff injuries occurred at our Veterans Administration Medical Center community living center (CLC) from these mats. A review of the OSHA 300 log, the administration of a questionnaire to staff, and patient safety, Community Living Center, and occupational health staff interviews regarding patient and staff injuries from mats were used in the investigation. Clinical significance was defined as staff or resident injuries from mats, and statistical significance was defined as statistically significant greater odds (Chi square at alpha of 0.05, and 95% odds ratio CIs) of staff being injured from mats versus other equipment in the workspace. The clinically significant criterion of staff and patient injuries from mats was realized; however, there were no statistically significant greater odds of staff injuries from mats compared with other equipment. The introduction of new technology into the patient and staff workspace, such as bedside floor mats, should take into consideration the possibility of creating new workspace hazards and vulnerabilities. End‐user usability testing and feedback should be considered as essential components of an implementation process. Further investigations could focus on underreporting of staff and patient injuries, cost‐‐benefit and risk‐‐benefit analyses with regard to resident injuries and resident injury protection as a function of bedside mats, and investigating other potentially hazardous equipment in the workspace. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.