Discriminating high fall risk on an inpatient rehabilitation unit

Michael J. Gilewski, Pamela Roberts, Jodi Hirata, Richard Riggs

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The objective of this study was to identify on admission the most discriminating fall predictors for patients to an inpatient rehabilitation unit. Medical information from 34 patients who fell over a consecutive 7-month period and 102 controls (1:3 ratio) matchedfor diagnosis, age, and gender was analyzed to identify a set of best predictors. Admission mobility and problem solving FIMTM scores accountedfor 17% of variance in whether a fall occurred during the admission. After statistically deriving optimal cutoff thresholds for decision making, high fall risk was retroactively assigned to patients. Logistic regression revealed increased odds of having fallen by 5.1 times for poorer mobility and 2.4 times for poorer problem solving. The practical benefits of the evidence-based risk assessment were discussed.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)234-240
Number of pages7
JournalRehabilitation Nursing
Volume32
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - 2007

ASJC Scopus Subject Areas

  • General Nursing
  • Physical Therapy, Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation
  • Rehabilitation

Keywords

  • Accident prevention
  • Accidental falls
  • Risk factors

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