Humor helps get the message across
No one wants to sit through another boring education video, so Long Beach (CA) Memorial Medical Center decided to lighten things up with their fall prevention video.
The comedy woven into the educational elements keeps the viewer's attention, explains Miriam Wedemeyer, OTR/L, JD, ergonomics program director at the hospital.
"We knew we wanted it to be comedic, because people are inundated with really serious information. Normally when you put on a video, people immediately go to sleep," she says. "We needed to catch their attention with something that was interesting and entertaining even as we were presenting important messages about fall prevention."
With a topic as serious as falls and the potential injuries, the team at first wondered how they could make anything about the video funny. But then they realized that the serious information could be portrayed with a light touch simply by giving the cast the leeway to be silly and goofy in the way they portrayed some scenes, along with some props, Wedemeyer says. The fact that viewers know the actors makes it much funnier than if a stranger were performing, she says.
Several scenes in the movie portray fall hazards in the healthcare environment. They point out to the viewer what is wrong in the scenario, such as cords left exposed in the patient room or bed rails left down. A patient fall is portrayed to show how the hazards led to the fall, and then the scene is shown again with the hospital employee responding appropriately to eliminate the hazards.
Another key part of the video illustrates what the caregiver should do during a fall. Long Beach teaches its employees to facilitate a controlled fall, which allows the patient to slide down the caregiver's leg, rather than trying to hold up the patient. Attempting to hold up the patient puts the caregiver at risk, Wedemeyer says.
"We intended this for nurses and other caregivers, but one of the things I'm most proud of is that others have seen the video and learned some of these important techniques," she says.
No one wants to sit through another boring education video, so Long Beach (CA) Memorial Medical Center decided to lighten things up with their fall prevention video.You have reached your article limit for the month. Subscribe now to access this article plus other member-only content.
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