Virtual Reality Fall Education for Caregivers

Summary

Falls place a huge financial burden on healthcare delivery systems, as well as physical and emotional harm to patients and families. Nurses are responsible for identifying fall risks and educating patients about fall risks and prevention, but first must have a thorough understanding of fall risk hazards themselves. The purpose of the study is to determine if enhanced education for caregivers using Virtual Reality simulation increases self-reported use of environmental fall risk interventions, and perceived effectiveness of those interventions, for caregivers on a medical-surgical unit. A secondary purpose is to explore the relationship between perceived effectiveness, unit norms, availability of resources, and self-reported behavior related to the use environmental interventions.

The study will use a matched-pair, clustered randomized controlled trial design. The setting is eight medical-surgical units across four hospitals. Unit-pairs at each hospital will be randomly assigned to control or intervention group. The sample will consist of clinical registered nurses and patient care nursing assistants. All participants will receive standard online fall risk education. Participants from the intervention units will also complete virtual reality simulation education delivered via an app on an iPhone that is attached to a headset. The Injurious Fall Risk Factors and Fall Prevention Interventions Survey will be used at baseline, 1 month post-, and 3 months post-education to measure perceived effectiveness, self-reported use, unit peer use, and availability of resources for use of environmental fall prevention interventions. A sample size of 30 participants per nursing unit will be needed for 90% power to detect mean differences of at least 0.5 points between groups.

Conditions

• Accidental Fall
• Nurse's Role

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Virtual reality simulation app for caregiver education

Using a virtual reality headset/goggles, caregivers will engage with an interactive app experience to identify and mediate fall risk hazards in the inpatient care environment. The app will present a hospital bedroom and bathroom laden with fall risks. As the caregiver progresses through the experience, the caregiver will ambulate (virtually) through the environment with the goal of identifying fall risks inherent within that inpatient setting. Fall risks will be targeted and identified using the app "sighting" function and after focusing on the fall risk for the allotted "marking" time, will "self-resolve."

BEHAVIORAL

online fall prevention education module

Participants in both intervention and control groups will complete a 20 minute online module: Management of the Patient at Risk for Falls, through the MyLearning education platform. Most caregivers would have taken this module during competencies or orientation, but at various times. It will be taken by all participants in this study to serve as a baseline understanding of identifying and caring for patients at risk for falls. Participants will be enrolled in the module by a member of the research team, and learner transcripts will available through MyLearning education to confirm completion.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• The Cleveland Clinic

  lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

OTHER

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2021-03-12

Primary Completion

2024-12-10

Completion

2024-12-10

Countries

• United States

Study Locations