Hendrich II Fall Risk Model Used in Acute Care
The Hendrich II Fall Risk Model was evaluated in a retrospective descriptive study in a 750-bed Midwest hospital. Hospital policy required that patients be assessed for fall risk, using the Hendrich II Fall Risk Model, on admission and at least once daily. Data were collected by chart review of the records of 107 patients who fell, compared with age- and medical diagnosis-group matched control subjects. There was a significant difference in Hendrich II Fall Risk Model score between patients who fell and controls: 5.07 and 3.83 respectively (P=0.02). For all cases, a high-risk cut-off score of ≥5 was significantly associated with falling (P=0.047). Conversely, in a subgroup of 26 patients with heart disease, the Hendrich II Fall Risk Model score was not significantly related with falling (P=0.729). Further, 44% of patients who experienced a fall were not identified using retrospective application of the Hendrich II Fall Risk Model. The differences in utility of the Hendrich II Fall Risk Model in different patient populations in the study were unexplained; nursing characteristics and clinical setting parameters were unavailable. Possible sources of discrepancy in assessment included improper use of the Hendrich II Fall Risk Model, especially with regard to the get-up-and-go item, incomplete testing, and inter-rater differences. The authors cite inpatient falls as an important measure of nursing quality and call for further research using the Hendrich II Fall Risk Model.
Swartzell KL, Fulton JS, Manz Friesth B. Relationship between occurrence of falls and fall-risk scores in an acute care setting using the Hendrich II Fall Risk Model. Medsurg Nursing. 2013;22:180-187.
Posted in Fall Prevention Research