Fall Prevention Techniques in SNF OT: Bingo Game Printables

Using fall prevention techniques in occupational therapy is key when working on getting our patients back to their prior level of function and return home when they are in a skilled nursing (SNF) setting and integrating some of these strategies into our group treatments is a fun way to do group learning. As established in our previous article on this topic, “Fall Prevention Interventions: 5 Reasons to Use Bingo in OT,” there are many reasons to incorporate OT games into your occupational therapy treatment sessions with your adult patients of various stories, backgrounds, and abilities.

Bingo is familiar to our adult patients and unfortunately so are falls within this community.  The goal of this second article in the series is to provide you with the “How to” create this multipurpose fall prevention bingo game intervention to add some educational fall prevention techniques to your OT treatment toolkit.

*NOTE: There are many ways to adapt this game to meet the needs of your patients so do not be afraid to get creative!

MATERIALS:

• Set of bingo chips (or you can use checker pieces or other small circular pieces) to use to mark the correct called out answer
• Another option for OT games is to use dry erase markers on laminated bingo card sheets (very useful in the event you are working with a patient who for example is recovering from a CVA and has the goal of being able to sign his name on checks – use the filling in the bingo circle by coloring as a medium to work on grasp patterns for writing)
• Bingo Call Out Card (for you the practitioner)
• Bingo Cards for each patient that is participating (either paper or laminated paper or supersized half poster sheet)
  • If you are looking for all 4 Bingo Cards, they can accessed through the OT Accelerator)
• Miscellaneous items to keep handy to increase the individualized therapeutic factor such as high/low tables, dycem to help keep the laminated paper cards in place, dynamic foam surfaces for high physical functioning patients to stand on, etc.

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Want a FREE digital download of 1 Bingo Card & 1 Caller Card to use for group fall prevention intervention in a SNF?

Sign up below to join our email list and get access to this and all the pdf resources available in the Free Level of the OT Accelerator

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HOW TO CREATE YOUR OWN SET:

Come up with a list of fall risk and fall prevention scenarios and questions.

• You will read off the question, and the player(s) will be guided to process, discuss, and visually scan to “mark” the correct answer on his or her individual board.
  • Note: there are more questions and answers on the Bingo Caller Card versus on the Individual Bingo Cards in order to make the game slightly competitive and hopefully more fun.
• If you choose to create your own rather than download these (above), you should take into consideration your patient’s cognitive level and attention span
  • i.e. Create questions that are concise and easier to remember rather than long and extensive for a patient who is lower level cognitively; conversely, if creating questions for an extremely high cognitive functioning patient you may consider asking complex safety questions related to fall prevention techniques to use during community mobility tasks, etc.

Print off your Bingo Cards or create your own.

• There are many options to create your own. I used Microsoft Word and inserted a 5 x 5 table. From there type in your answers to the questions that you will call out. Make sure to change up the arrangement of the answers on the cards so that each player has unique cards. Add a FREE SPACE in the middle.

Adapt the cards to meet your patients’ needs.

• Take into consideration of your patient’s needs. What do they need?
  • Choose a bigger, clear font.
  • Determine whether or not changing the background and font color will ease the ability for your patients to see the words. (If you are a member of the OT Accelerator, download the low vision card in the Clinical Resource section)
  • Laminate the cards if desired.
  • Use a half sheet of a poster and draw 5 x 5 squares with answers inside if your patient is still having trouble seeing the board.
  • Determine what your patient should use to mark the answers.
    • Are they trying to improve their pincer grasp pattern for buttoning ADL purposes?
      • If yes than demonstrate to that patient using pincer grasp to pick up a small Checker’s chip to place onto the board.
    • Are they aspiring to work on their ability to write a check again?
      • Then provide that patient the opportunity to use a dry erase marker to mark their answers on the board while simultaneously and conscientiously working on handwriting and distal control. Determine how to grade up and grade down the physical demands of the task.

Keep it fun!! This one doesn’t need further explanation. 🙂

About our guest blogger

Shannen Marie Coley, MS, OTR/L is an occupational therapist that is passionate about adult inpatient rehabilitation, patient wellness, professional development, advocacy, and occupational balance. She is an LSVT BIG certified clinician since 2018. Since graduating OT school in December 2016, Shannen has worked in the hospital and inpatient rehab settings serving adult patients of variable backgrounds, stories, and upbringings with a variety of neurological, cardiopulmonary, orthopedic diagnoses. Shannen enjoys writing and sharing tidbits of OT related stories on her blog ShannenMarieOT.com and is active on Instagram (IG) @shannenmarie_ot. Shannen is married to her college sweetheart and they have one child – a six toed cat named Gravy.