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 .
Predicting which patient will fall again ... and again.
In order to compare the characteristics , preventive interventions and outcomes of single and multiple fallers , a retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted in a 680-bed acute-care hospital in Western Australia . Fifty patients falling more than once ( multiple fallers ) were r and omly selected from all patients reported to have fallen between 1 July 1989 and 31 December 1989 , and age-sex matched with 50 patients falling once in the trial period ( single fallers ) . In total , 382 in- patients were reported to have sustained 578 falls in the 6-month trial period . Fifty-two per cent of these falls involved multiple fallers . An analysis of the 100 single and multiple fallers showed that single fallers were more likely to have fallen from their bed ; be discharged home from hospital ; and be clinical ly deteriorating at the time of the fall . Multiple fallers were more likely to be transferred to a long-term nursing facility after discharge from hospital ; suffer blindness/poor vision ; be se date d post fall ; be ordered to be restrained following a fall ; and be hospitalized for longer periods . There was also a tendency for multiple fallers to repeat the type and location of the fall on successive falls . Stepwise logistic regression showed that falling from the bed on the first fall predicted remaining a single faller . Being ordered to be restrained following the first fall and hospitalized for longer periods predicted the patient would fall repeatedly . Further analytical research incorporating an exp and ed number of independent variables is needed to allow confident assertions of causality . To test the effectiveness of preventive measures , a prospect i ve longitudinal study is required
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 .