Published 31 Jan 2023
What is a Fall Risk Assessment?
A fall risk assessment is primarily carried out by nursing staff to evaluate the likelihood of falling for elderly patients. Fall assessments help ensure patient safety as falls are the leading cause of injury and accidental death for people aged 65 years and over. A patient fall risk assessment usually includes fall risk ratings to help prioritize fall prevention measures for elderly patients.
Morse Fall Risk Assessment Tool
This Morse Fall Risk Assessment Tool derived from the Morse Fall Scale (MFS) was converted using SafetyCulture (formerly iAuditor) and is used to help assess a patient’s likelihood of falling. Perform this Morse Fall Risk Assessment by answering 6 essential questions:
- Was there a history of falling? (immediate or within 3 months)
- Was there a secondary diagnosis?
- What ambulatory aid is used?
- Was there an intravenous apparatus or a heparin lock inserted?
- How was the patient's gait or transferring mode?
- What is the mental status of the patient?
This template includes a risk rating table which will help you assign a fall risk rating (High, Medium, Low) based on the responses to the 6 essential questions.
In this article
- Fall Risk Assessment Frequency
- Fall Risk Assessment Process
- How to Conduct a Fall Risk Assessment with SafetyCulture
- Featured Fall Risk Assessment Templates
Fall Risk Assessment Frequency
Generally, a fall risk assessment should be completed upon admission of the patient to effectively prevent falls or reduce the risk of falling. Apart from the initial assessment, fall risk assessments should also be completed immediately after a fall, when there is a change in the patient’s condition or medication, and before each shift for high-risk patients. Through early risk identification and reassessments, appropriate preventive measures can be in place.
Fall Risk Assessment Process
Derived from the fall risk assessment tool developed by Johns Hopkins, listed below are the 5 key steps of the falls risk assessment process:
Step 1: Be aware of the patient’s medical history
Having a clear understanding of the patient’s medical history, especially in areas most critical to fall risks, can help nursing personnel to carry out a fall risk assessment correctly. Knowing if the patient has a history of falls, recurrent falls, and took diuretics or narcotics, among others, can greatly inform a fall assessment, leading to a more accurate risk rating.
Step 2: Identify high or low fall risks based on certain conditions
The process of coming up with a fall risk score can be foregone when a patient is immediately identified either as a high fall-risk or a low fall-risk. A patient is automatically considered a high fall-risk if he/she has a history of more than one fall within 6 months before admission, has experienced a fall during a hospitalization period, and is deemed high fall-risk per organizational protocol (e.g. seizure precautions).
On the other hand, a patient is considered a low fall-risk when he/she is completely immobilized or in a state of complete paralysis. Either way, interventions per protocol should be implemented accordingly.
Step 3: Determine fall risk ratings based on common risk factors
When the aforementioned conditions are non-existent, the assessor should continue in the process of determining a fall risk rating by evaluating common fall risk factors such as age, medication, patient care equipment, mobility, and cognition. Assigning fall risk ratings generally follows the principle of direct correlation—the more points are earned from each risk factor, the higher that patient’s risk of falls.
Step 4: Implement risk interventions per protocol
Risk interventions vary depending on the protocols set by the healthcare institution. Sample interventions for high fall-risks include close supervision of the patient with attempts to address the patient’s risk factors and appropriate post-fall care with injury prevention measures in the case of recurrence, while the most basic risk intervention for low-risk patients is improving environmental safety, or practicing universal fall precautions such as:
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- Familiarize the patient with the environment.
- Keep the patient’s personal possessions within patient safe reach.
- Have sturdy handrails in patient bathrooms, stairs, room, and hallway.
- Keep hospital bed brakes locked.
- Keep wheelchair wheel locks in a “locked” position when stationary.
- Keep non-slip, comfortable, well-fitting footwear on the patient.
- Keep floor surfaces clean and dry. Clean up all spills promptly.
- Keep patient care areas uncluttered.
- Follow safe patient handling practices.
Step 5: Update patient records and reassess fall risks as required
Monitor the effectiveness of fall preventive measures applied according to a patient’s fall risk, notify all key healthcare staff, and document changes accordingly (click here to see when reassessments are required). Keeping patient records up-to-date is crucial to successfully carry out a fall prevention plan aligned with the individualized care plan.
How to Conduct a Fall Risk Assessment with SafetyCulture
Fall risk assessment tools are used to efficiently capture elderly fall risk factors which are needed to assign accurate fall risk ratings. Keeping track of elderly patients’ risk of falls can be challenging, especially because healthcare staff already have a lot on their plate. With the use of technology, healthcare institutions can now have a more systematic process to establish fall risk mitigation plans, improve how to determine patients at risk of a fall, and prevent incidents of falls.
The SafetyCulture Fall Risk Assessment Tool can empower teams to perform paperless fall risk assessments and automatically save all fall assessments in the cloud. With SafetyCulture, your team can easily view all patient fall risk ratings online, report and resolve safety issues at the onset, and monitor patient fall trends, establishing preventive measures effectively.
To help you get started, we collated fall risk assessment forms you can download for free and easily customize using the SafetyCulture drag-and-drop template editor to fulfill your organizational requirements.
Featured Fall Risk Assessment Templates
Patient Fall Risk Assessment Template
This fall risk assessment template is used to evaluate a patient’s probability of falling. It includes fields to record a patient’s fall history, current medication, and medical test results (vision, peripheral sensation, and mobility). Record the patient’s fall risk rating (Low, Medium, High) depending on the number of accumulated risk factors.
Environmental Fall Assessment Form
This environmental fall assessment form can be used to evaluate the facilities, equipment, and safety of an aged care center or hospital because an accidental fall may not only be caused by a patient’s medical condition but also by an environmental hazard. Use SafetyCulture to perform environmental fall assessment using mobile devices to thoroughly inspect and maintain cleanliness and orderliness to keep your patients’ safe from environmental fall hazards.
Fall Incident Report Form
This Fall Incident Report template can be used to document the critical information, person(s) involved in the incident, injuries, near misses, and cause of the fall. Use SafetyCulture to capture photo evidence of the incident. Generate a detailed fall incident report and affix it with a digital signature.