Monitoring of wheelchair use in long-term memory care units

Residents in long term care (LTC) with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) or related dementias (ADRD) who require wheelchairs to accommodate impaired mobility experience increased risk of falls and sitting-related pressure injuries (PrIs). Addressing that risk requires a multifactorial approach and strategic prioritization of care needs. Objective data about patterns of wheelchair use, including timing of transfers and overall time in chair could inform decisions about strategies to reduce fall or pressure injury risk. This pilot feasibility study used passive data collection from force sensors placed unobtrusively under the seat cushions on wheelchairs ( n = 18) at two LTC memory care units to measure how the wheelchairs were used over 7 days. Four occupancy patterns were identified: All day ( n = 6 chairs, 21 days) without transfers, One Transfer ( n = 15 chairs, 41 days), Two Transfers ( n = 12 chairs, 33 days), and Inconsistent ( n = 3 chairs, 10 days). Wheelchair occupancy time (hours/day) in this cohort (Mean = 8.7, SD = 2.7) were lower than those of community wheelchair users and the number of daily transfers (Mean = 2.9, SD = 1.7) was also lower. With the rapidly aging U.S. population and limited care staffing, information from effective unobtrusive data collection technologies, such as the WiSAT system successfully used in this study, can potentially facilitate improved prevention of falls or pressure injuries that occur with prolonged wheelchair use in LTC facilities.