# What Does The Outline Of A Maple Leaf On A Hospital Door Mean?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-outline-of-a-maple-leaf-on-a-hospital-door-mean/618877
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [April 15, 2012, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-outline-of-a-maple-leaf-on-a-hospital-door-mean/618877 "2012-04-15T20:50:47Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2012, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-outline-of-a-maple-leaf-on-a-hospital-door-mean/618877/1 "2012-04-15T20:50:47Z")
While I was “enjoying” my sojourn in the local hospital, I noticed that some rooms had a piece of red paper with the black outline of a maple leaf on it on their doors (on the outside side). This was usually laminated and all of them were identical, which indicates an ongoing protocol rather than individual decoration.
I thought maybe they were supposed to be indications of MRSA or some other resistant infection, but I can’t find ANYTHING online, or else my search terms suck.
Do any medical Dopers know what that sign means? Or is it maybe a strictly local (and possibly strictly that hospital) thing?
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### Author:  [@Winnipeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winnipeg)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2012, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-outline-of-a-maple-leaf-on-a-hospital-door-mean/618877/2 "2012-04-15T20:55:53Z")
Resistance is useless, Canada’s socialist health care WILL assimilate you.
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### Author:  [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2012, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-outline-of-a-maple-leaf-on-a-hospital-door-mean/618877/3 "2012-04-15T21:01:11Z")
Leave me alone? 🙂
Can you give us more details about the location of the hospital and who manages it?
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### Author:  [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2012, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-outline-of-a-maple-leaf-on-a-hospital-door-mean/618877/4 "2012-04-15T21:01:23Z")
It means the patient inside is at increased risk of falling. “Fall” --\> falling leaves.
Some people’s medical conditions, medications or mental state can make them prone to falling, and nurses don’t like it when patients fall. A leaf outside is supposed to help us remember which patients have been assessed and found at risk for falls.
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### Author:  [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2012, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-outline-of-a-maple-leaf-on-a-hospital-door-mean/618877/5 "2012-04-15T21:10:27Z")
[Here’s one commonly used Fall Risk Assessment.](http://sandiego.networkofcare.org/library/Morse%20Fall%20Scale.pdf)
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### Author:  [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2012, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-outline-of-a-maple-leaf-on-a-hospital-door-mean/618877/6 "2012-04-15T21:10:33Z")
> [@WhyNot](#):
>
> It means the patient inside is at increased risk of falling. “Fall” –\> falling leaves.
>
> Some people’s medical conditions, medications or mental state can make them prone to falling, and nurses don’t like it when patients fall. A leaf outside is supposed to help us remember which patients have been assessed and found at risk for falls.
AHA! I get it now. Thank you very much, Nurse WhyNot!
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### Author:  [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2012, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-outline-of-a-maple-leaf-on-a-hospital-door-mean/618877/7 "2012-04-15T21:26:14Z")
> [@jayjay](#):
>
> AHA! I get it now. Thank you very much, Nurse WhyNot!
You’re welcome. And if the person you’re visiting has one of these outside, most hospitals will have him/her wearing a wristband with the words FALL RISK on it. Sometimes yellow, sometimes red, but always consistent within a hospital. There’s movement afoot to standardize them across the country, but not everyone is on board yet.
Again, it helps us remember who needs extra help or supervision. If I’m walking by another nurse’s room, and her patient asks me if he can have assistance getting to the bathroom, I can see his FALL RISK wristband and immediately know I’ve got to stay close to him as he walks and be prepared for him to topple. I don’t have to look at his chart, I don’t have to go run and find his nurse, I know he’s at risk for falls.
So if your loved one doesn’t have a wristband but there’s a leaf outside, ask the nurse to clarify, and put a [wristband](http://extra.upmc.com/111408/Default.htm)on if the leaf is correct.
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### Author:  [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2012, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-outline-of-a-maple-leaf-on-a-hospital-door-mean/618877/8 "2012-04-15T21:30:46Z")
> [@WhyNot](#):
>
> So if your loved one doesn’t have a wristband but there’s a leaf outside, ask the nurse to clarify, and put a [wristband](http://extra.upmc.com/111408/Default.htm)on if the leaf is correct.
Thanks, but the “loved one” was ME! Apparently noob bka amputees are fall risks…who knew?!
ETA: I should note that I’m probably still a fall risk (since I’m not wearing my prosthetic all day yet…or walking unsupported on it yet, either) but they don’t appear to use that protocol here at the rehab/skilled care home. I guess they just assume EVERYONE is a fall risk here.
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### Author:  [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2012, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-outline-of-a-maple-leaf-on-a-hospital-door-mean/618877/9 "2012-04-15T21:35:27Z")
> [@jayjay](#):
>
> Thanks, but the “loved one” was ME! Apparently noob bka amputees are fall risks…who knew?!
>
> ETA: I should note that I’m probably still a fall risk (since I’m not wearing my prosthetic all day yet…or walking unsupported on it yet, either) but they don’t appear to use that protocol here at the rehab/skilled care home. I guess they just assume EVERYONE is a fall risk here.
lol! Well, yes, just a teensy bit!
I bet you’re right and that just about everybody is considered a Fall Risk at the rehab center. Honestly, on some floors in a hospital, every patient is a Fall Risk! Especially Orthopedic Surgery floors and Geriatrics. Most ICU’s don’t bother with leaves, either. Patients sick enough to be in ICU are rarely successful at getting out of bed.
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### Author:  [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2012, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-outline-of-a-maple-leaf-on-a-hospital-door-mean/618877/10 "2012-04-15T23:19:42Z")
> [@Winnipeg](#):
>
> Resistance is useless, Canada’s socialist health care WILL assimilate you.
I wish they would hurry up! 🙂
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### Author:  [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2012, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-outline-of-a-maple-leaf-on-a-hospital-door-mean/618877/11 "2012-04-15T23:23:46Z")
> [@WhyNot](#):
>
> It means the patient inside is at increased risk of falling. “Fall” –\> falling leaves.
Oh sure - blame Canada for problems in your health care system! 😉