PATIENT FALLS: Baptist Health High Risk Falls Assessment

There are a number of tools that clinicians can use to figure out if patients are likely to be at high risk of falling–the Morse Falls Scale, the St. Thomas Risk Assessment Tool in Falling Elderly Inpatients (STRATIFY), the Hendrich II Fall Risk Model, among others.  This article describes development of the Baptist Health High Risk Falls Assessment.  A copy of this one-page assessment is included in the article.  It assigns points based on the patient’s age, type of medications being taken, mobility, mental status, and other factors.

Source: Corley, D., Brockopp, D., and others.  The Baptist Health High Risk Falls Assessment: a methodological study.  JONA. The Journal of Nursing Administration;44(5):263-269, May 2014.  Click here for the publisher’s website: http://journals.lww.com/jonajournal/pages/articleviewer.aspx?year=2014&issue=05000&article=00006&type=abstract  Posted by AHA Resource Center (312) 422-2050, rc@aha.org