Kenneth Covinsky: Many US Hospitals use bed alarms. But there is no evidence they prevent falls.

Kenneth Covinsky, Clinician-Researcher in the UCSF Division of Geriatrics, shared the following post on X/LinkedIn:

“Many US Hospitals use bed alarms. But there is no evidence they prevent falls. Zero. None. But they do succeed in keeping patients immobile and increase the risk for hospital acquired disability.”

To which, David S Chang replied with:

“That’s because every US hospital is judged by ‘harm reduction metrics’, of which falls are one of the largest components.

And every time someone falls a ‘safety officer’ is required to write a long report about what your hospital is doing to prevent falls. Bed Alarms are an easy thing to include.

So even if there is no evidence that bed alarms prevent falls, and even if they add cost, patient discomfort, and staff burnout, US hospitals are pressured into using them.”

Source: Kenneth Covinsky/Twitter and David S Chang/Twitter.