title: Identification of patients at risk for falls in an inpatient rehabilitation program.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine if there is a more sensitive method to identify inpatient rehabilitation patients at high risk for falls rather than the Morse fall scale.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective analysis of falls occurring during 6-month period in 2009. Age and diagnosis were used to create comparison groups between patients who fell and those who did not. T-tests were used to determine differences between the two groups in FIM scores and Morse fall scores.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patients who had stroke as a primary diagnosis were more likely to fall than other patients. Length of stay was greater for patients who fell (p = .008). The positive predictive value of the Morse fall scale for patients who fell was 57%, suggesting that it is not a sensitive predictor of falls in rehabilitation patients. Patients who fell had significantly lower FIM expression scores (p = .02).
authors.affiliation: Clement J. Zablocki Medical Center, Milwaukee, WI, USA.
authors.forename: Lisa A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Salamon
authors.forename: Mary
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Victory
authors.forename: Kathleen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bobay
mesh_terms: D000058:Accidental Falls / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012047:Rehabilitation Centers / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D019145:Rehabilitation Nursing / Q000379:methods*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012308:Risk Management / Q000379:methods*; D020521:Stroke / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000451:nursing*; D055815:Young Adult