( rtain which was used only rarely by ol...)Common Falls In Bath Among Older Adults Can Be Prevented,Health

rtain, which was used only rarely by older adults in this study." Participants in the study were residents of two congregate housing facilities and had no cognitive impairment. They were videotaped as they demonstrated how they used their environment while getting into and out of the shower or tub – that is, whether they used grab-bars, towel bars, shower curtains, glass doors, tub seats, and other parts of the tub to assist themselves.

The videotapes were also evaluated for the participants' fluidity of movement and whether they had difficulty negotiating the environment. While the majority of people using both tubs and shower stalls used safe environmental features such as grab bars, many used unsafe features in addition to the safe ones. Nineteen percent of participants using a tub were evaluated as using unsafe features, and more than 70 percent of those with shower stalls used unsafe features, such as the glass door, towel bar or a tub seat. One participant had a plastic lawn chair as a tub seat, a particularly dangerous device given curved shape of the tub floor.

Some safety problems researchers observed could be fixed easily such as the installation of a shower curtain in place of a door, and proper instruction about built-in bathroom safety features (such as grab bars designed for weight-bearing) for new residents of senior housing facilities. The researchers also suggested a focus on better designs of bathrooms in senior housing facilities.

"We think the results from this study demonstrate the need for healthcare professionals to become involved in helping to prevent bathing disability, instead of just treating people in the hospital after they have had a fall in the bathroom," she says. "While bathrooms in senior housing facilities are designed to be safe, we have found that older adults often do not know the difference between a grab bar and a towel bar. They also have unsafe strategies of getting into and out of the
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