This study aimed to investigate the predicting effect of fall risk assessment tools in hospitalized patients.
Methods:
In this retrospective study, we enrolled hospitalized patients with hospital stay greater than seven days from a medical center in Central Taiwan during January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2015. Pediatric patients and patients with age less than 18-year-old were excluded. We collected all fall assessments and records by linking medical database. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to evaluate the optimal cut-off point of the score of scale. Statistical analysis was performed using SAS 9.4 software.
Results:
A total of 14,634 subjects were included in the study. This study found several factors were associated with increased risk of falls, including: patients over 65 years old, history of falls, visual impairment, mobility disorders and limb hemiplegia, physical weakness, and taking drugs that affect consciousness or activity. Finally, this study found that the predicting effect was similar between the scaled three-question scale and the original scale with nine questions, and the fall risk in hospitalized patients was not significantly different from the two scales.
Conclusion:
Most falls are not caused by a single factor; if you can effectively use the assessment tool to identify high-risk groups and related risk factors for in-patient fall, and timely intervention measures can effectively reduce the occurrence of falls. It is hoped that this study will provide clinical practitioners with an important basis for preventing patients from falling. The results of this study show that as the fall assessment score increases, the more risk factors it represents, the greater the risk of a fall, which is similar to many articles (Yang Feiqing, Zeng Huizhen, 2017; O'Connell, Baker, Gaskin and Hawkins, 2007; Peri, 2007).The study findings may be provided as an important basis of clinical practice for development of fall risk assessment tool. The assessment tool may help to accurately screen out the high risk group of falls, and then provide immediate interventional measures to prevent patients from falling.