Usmani Ahmad Raza, Kotowski Susan E, Davis Kermit G
Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, College of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45219, USA.
Department of Rehabilitation, Exercise, and Nutrition Sciences, College of Allied Health Sciences, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45267, USA.
Int J Nurs Health Care Res (Lisle). 2024;7(7). doi: 10.29011/2688-9501.101560.
Patient falls from hospital beds are a major safety concern in hospitals, with bed ingress and egress alone responsible for most falls. Despite previous insights, no research has systematically assessed how bed height affects balance during ingress and egress.
AIMS & OBJECTIVES: Our study aimed to quantify individuals' balance during hospital bed ingress and egress at different heights by analyzing the components of ground reaction forces.
Based on the experiment conducted in a previous study, ground reaction forces were collected from twenty-four healthy adults during ingress and egress from a hospital bed at different heights. Component force vectors for each foot were evaluated, and data was statistically analyzed using a two-factor Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) with follow-up post-hoc Tukey tests.
Significant imbalance was found in the medial-lateral direction for both feet at all bed heights during ingress and egress trials. A more balanced approach between the two feet was observed for the longitudinal direction, with mid-range heights demonstrating more optimal ground reaction forces.
Our results revealed that individuals had better balance in the longitudinal direction for medium bed heights (51 to 66 cm) during ingress and egress. We provided further insights into the specific balance impairment during ingress and egress trials, indicating some left-right feet differences. In summary, medium bed heights (51 to 66 cm) resulted in the most stable balance with fewer differences between the right and left feet, suggesting that low and high bed heights may place patients at a higher risk of falling.
患者从医院病床跌落是医院主要的安全隐患，大多数跌落事故仅由上下床导致。尽管此前已有相关见解，但尚无研究系统评估床的高度如何影响上下床过程中的平衡。
我们的研究旨在通过分析地面反作用力的组成部分，量化不同高度下个体在医院病床上下床过程中的平衡情况。
基于先前一项研究中进行的实验，在24名健康成年人从不同高度的医院病床上下床过程中收集地面反作用力。评估每只脚的分力向量，并使用双因素方差分析（ANOVA）及后续的事后Tukey检验对数据进行统计分析。
在上下床试验中，所有床高条件下，双脚在内外侧方向均出现明显失衡。在纵向方向上，观察到双脚之间的平衡方式更佳，中等高度的床显示出更优的地面反作用力。
我们的结果表明，个体在中等床高（51至66厘米）上下床过程中的纵向平衡更好。我们进一步深入了解了上下床试验期间具体的平衡受损情况，表明左右脚存在一些差异。总之，中等床高（51至66厘米）能实现最稳定的平衡，左右脚差异较小，这表明低床高和高床高可能会使患者面临更高的跌倒风险。
