Safer care in State Veterans Homes using brief frontline staff huddles
Official title: Pragmatic trial to increase quality of care in State Veterans Homes: Improving safety using an evidence-based, frontline staff huddling practice
Funded at Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial Veterans Hospital · NIH-11252796 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project will use short, regular staff huddles at State Veterans Homes to help reduce falls and improve safety for veterans living in those facilities.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial Veterans Hospital NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Bedford, United States) |
| Project start | August 1, 2022 |
| Project end | July 31, 2026 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| NIH project number | 5I01HX003420-04 |
| Project ID | NIH-11252796 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal candidates are veterans who live in participating State Veterans Home nursing facilities, especially older residents or those at higher risk of falling.
✕Less likely to help
People who do not live in participating State Veterans Homes or whose care needs are unrelated to fall risk are unlikely to be helped directly by this program.
What this research studies
If you or your loved one lives in a State Veterans Home, staff will adopt the LOCK approach: learn from successful examples, observe care, hold quick 5-15 minute huddles, and keep changes small. Frontline staff will collect simple observations about fall risks and meet briefly to plan immediate, practical actions. The program is designed to fit into daily routines without relying on complex quality systems and will be rolled out across participating homes. Researchers will track fall rates and related outcomes before and after implementation to see whether the huddles lead to fewer falls and injuries.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this could lower fall rates, reduce injuries and hospital visits, and make daily life safer for veterans in State Veterans Homes.
How similar studies have gone: Similar frontline huddle programs like LOCK have shown promise and have been linked to reductions in falls and improved outcomes in other care settings.
Where this research is happening
-
Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial Veterans Hospital
Bedford, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Pimentel, Camilla Benedicto — Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial Veterans Hospital
- Study coordinator: Pimentel, Camilla Benedicto
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.