Heterogeneity between studies indicates that the Morse Falls Scale and STRATIFY may still be useful in particular setting s , but that widespread adoption of either is unlikely to generate benefits significantly greater than that of nursing staff clinical judgment
INTRODUCTION Fall risk screening tools are frequently used as a part of falls prevention programs in hospitals .
Design -related bias in evaluations of tool predictive accuracy could lead to overoptimistic results , which would then contribute to program failure in practice .
A randomized trial of identification bracelets to prevent falls among patients in a rehabilitation hospital.
This purpose of this study was to determine whether an identification bracelet is effective in preventing falls among high-risk patients who are undergoing in-patient physical rehabilitation . A stratified , r and omized , balanced controlled clinical trial was conducted ; participants were blinded as to the outcome and the study hypothesis . All patients having one or more risk factors that predisposed them to falls were r and omized to receive either a blue identification bracelet or no bracelet . The identification bracelet was intended to increase patients ' vigilance about falling . Two risk strata were specified . The high risk stratum consisted of patients with stroke or ataxia , urinary incontinence , or a history of falls . The low risk stratum comprised patients older than 80 years and those on one or more medications that had been identified as contributing to an individual 's risk of falling . This report presents the effect of the identification bracelet only among persons in the high-risk stratum . Over 1 year , 65 high-risk subjects were r and omized to receive the blue identification bracelet  and 69 high-risk subjects were controls . In the intervention group , 27 persons ( 41 % ) fell at least once , whereas in the control group 21 persons ( 30 % ) fell at least once yielding a hazard ratio of 1.3 ( 95 % confidence interval : 0.8 to 2.4 ) . These results suggest that the identification system was of no benefit in preventing falls among high-risk persons
Heterogeneity between studies indicates that the Morse Falls Scale and STRATIFY may still be useful in particular setting s , but that widespread adoption of either is unlikely to generate benefits significantly greater than that of nursing staff clinical judgment
INTRODUCTION Fall risk screening tools are frequently used as a part of falls prevention programs in hospitals .
Design -related bias in evaluations of tool predictive accuracy could lead to overoptimistic results , which would then contribute to program failure in practice .