title: A comparative study on the validity of fall risk assessment scales in korean hospitals.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to compare the validity of three fall risk assessment scales including the Morse Fall Scale (MFS), the Bobath Memorial Hospital Fall Risk Assessment Scale (BMFRAS), and the Johns Hopkins Hospital Fall Risk Assessment Tool (JHFRAT).
  
  
  METHODS
  This study was a prospective validation cohort study in five acute care hospitals in Seoul and Gyeonggi-Do, Korea. In total, 356 patients over the age of 18 years admitted from December 2009 to February 2010 participated. The three fall risk assessment scales listed above were tested for sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive and negative predictive values. A receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve was generated to show sensitivities and specificities for predicting falls based on different threshold scores for considering patients at high risk.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Based on the mean scores of each scale for falls, the MFS at a cut-off score of 50 had a sensitivity of 78.9%, specificity of 55.8%, positive predictive value of 30.8%, and negative predictive value of 91.4%, which were the highest values among the three fall assessment scales. Areas under the curve of the ROC curves were .761 for the MFS, .715 for the BMFRAS, and .708 for the JHFRAT.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Accordingly, of the three fall risk assessment scales, the highest predictive validity for identifying patients at high risk for falls was achieved by the MFS.
authors.affiliation: Professor and Researcher, Research Institute of Nursing Science, College of Nursing, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Keum Soon
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Senior Researcher, Korea Health Industry Development Institute, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Jin A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Associate Research Fellow, Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Yun-Kyoung
authors.initials: YK
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.affiliation: Manager, Quality Assurance Team, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Yu Jeong
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Manager, Nursing Division, Bobath Memorial Hospital, Seongnam, Korea.
authors.forename: Mi Hwa
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Professor, College of Nursing, Eulji University, Daejeon, Korea.
authors.forename: Hyun-Young
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Director, Nursing Division, Gangnam Severance Hospital, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Mal Soon
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Song