It has been proposed that carpeting, vinyl, or other biomedically-engineered materials may prevent injury due to falls. The most recent flooring material is the Penn State Safety Floor, which is designed to remain rigid under normal walking conditions but deform elastically to absorb impact forces during a fall. The efficacy of this floor is still being tested, so it is not yet available.
Evidence of Effectiveness:
Agostini and colleagues restricted their review to the use of hospital-duty carpeting compared with the usual vinyl flooring. They found two studies on the effect of flooring type on falls: one randomized study measured the rate of falls and the other (a retrospective analysis) studied fall-related injury. The randomized trial by Donald and colleagues (2000) found more falls in the group with carpeted flooring but the results were not statistically significant. The retrospective study by Healey (1994) found that the rate of injury was significantly lower for patients who fell on carpet than vinyl flooring. These two studies indicate that carpeted floors may increase the rate of falls but they decrease fall injuries. However, in the most recent review by Hignett and Masud (2006), they found two other studies on the effectiveness of carpets in preventing falls. A study reported that wooden carpeted floors were associated with the lowest number of fractures per 100 falls in care homes (Simpson et al., 2004) and another study suggested that people with limited walking abilities require more friction for safe walking than able-bodied people (Buczek et al., 1990). Despite the findings of these studies, more data is needed to conclude the effectiveness of carpets over vinyl floors. As with the bed alarms, no harms were identified for the implementation of carpets although patients with asthma may react to allergens in the carpet. As well, there are no cost estimates, but they will likely be costly if facilities are upgraded nationwide. The costs will also be high in keeping the floors clean.