Safety and Emergency Procedures
Preventing the event beats responding to it
Most safety questions are really fall-prevention questions. Keep the call light within reach, bed low and locked, brakes on, pathways clear, footwear non-skid, and the resident's water and phone reachable. Answer lights promptly - incontinence and impatience cause falls. Use a gait belt for transfers and ask for help rather than catching a falling resident; lower them gently to the floor instead of trying to hold them up. Restraints are never a fall-prevention shortcut.
Know the emergency sequences cold. Fire: RACE - Rescue anyone in danger, Alarm, Contain the fire by closing doors, Extinguish or Evacuate. Small fires use PASS on the extinguisher; never water on a grease or electrical fire; never use an elevator. Choking: encourage coughing, then abdominal thrusts for a responsive adult; report it and document. Seizure: protect the head, do not restrain or put anything in the mouth, time it, turn to the side afterward, report duration. Suspected stroke or sudden change: note the time and call the nurse. Bleeding: gloves, direct pressure, elevate, report. Shock: lay flat, keep warm, do not give food or fluid.
Traps. Answers that have you leave a resident alone on a toilet or in a bathroom, or that say to file an incident report in place of telling the nurse. Incident reports are factual, objective, and go to the nurse; chart only what you saw and did.
Rule of thumb. Scan the room before you leave it: call light, bed height, brakes, floor, footwear.