Prediction and Prevention of Patient Falls

Falls are a major cause of injury in hospitalized patients. To date, the focus of research has been on developing risk profiles to predict fallers and developing interventions to prevent falls. This paper presents and critiques these efforts. The authors conclude that (a) no high-risk profiles have yet been developed with adequate sensitivity and specificity to be useful as predictive instruments; (b) current fall interventions are rarely research-based; and (c) the few intervention studies conducted to date seem to reduce falls primarily through consciousness raising rather than specific changes in practice.