Four weeks of Paraglide usage data show promise for workplace safety in nursing homes
With funding from the Nova Scotia Department of Health and Wellness, 21 nursing homes purchased the first 107 ever produced Paraglide automated repositioning systems for wheelchair users. These purchases, made under a Continuing Care Innovation Pilot Program, are required to evaluate the technology to determine if (or to what degree) it will help achieve key Continuing Care priorities, specifically making the workplace safer for nursing home staff, improving efficiencies or reducing workload, and improving the quality of resident care.
As part of this pilot, six nursing homes have been participating in a three-month voluntary group data collection process to simplify and standardize the collection and analysis of the usage data collected from the Paraglide remote controls. The process was developed by MHT in collaboration with an Evaluation Working Group comprising nursing home staff involved with the pilot testing of Paraglide.
Based on the first four weeks of data we have received from 16-22 active Paraglide systems, the six participating nursing homes have collectively:
Avoided 1,030 potential nursing home staff injuries
Saved 423 hours of staff time
These numbers are based on the repositioning data collected and stored inside each Paraglide system’s remote control (which collects the numbers of repositions each day as well as the number of missed repositions) against each facility’s reported estimated time spent repositioning residents using typical repositioning methods. Although 22 units were reported on during this four-week period, the number of active systems ranged between 16 and 22, as there were days during which some units were inactive.
“We’re extremely grateful to these facilities for working with us to measure these never-before collected wheelchair repositioning stats, as they help us see the real-world impact and potential for Paraglide to make wheelchair repositioning safer and more efficient,” said Carmen MacKenzie, MHT co-founder.
“Every time someone is repositioned using Paraglide is one potential workplace injury avoided,” said MacKenzie.
MHT thanks the following nursing homes for participating in the voluntary Group Data Collection Process, and taking the extra effort during their Paraglide Pilot to measure Paraglide’s real world impact on nursing home staff and residents:
Annapolis Royal Nursing Home
East Cumberland Lodge
Grand View Manor
Hillside Pines
Queens Manor
Surf Lodge
The company will be working with participating nursing homes in Nova Scotia to share further details at the end of the data collection period. Paraglide systems are available for pre-order for the company’s winter production run, expected December 2021/January 2022.
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