Predicting Patient Falls

This screening tool is included in a series, Try This: Best Practices in Nursing Care to Older Adults, from the Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing at New York University's College of Nursing.

Abstract

In Brief Overview The Hendrich II Fall Risk Model is used to assess a hospitalized patient's risk of falling. Designed to be administered quickly, it focuses on eight independent risk factors: confusion, disorientation, and impulsivity; symptomatic depression; altered elimination; dizziness or vertigo; male sex; administration of antiepileptics (or changes in dosage or cessation); administration of benzodiazepines; and poor performance in rising from a seated position in the Get-Up-and-Go test. (This screening tool is included in a series, Try This: Best Practices in Nursing Care to Older Adults, from the Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing at New York University's College of Nursing.) For a free online video demonstrating the use of this tool, go to https://links.lww.com/A111. The author discusses the Hendrich II Fall Risk Model, widely used in determining a hospitalized patient's risk of falling.