How to Try This: Predicting Patient Falls
Ann Hendrich MSN, RN, FAAN
AJN, American Journal of Nursing
November 2007
Volume 107 Number 11
Pages 50 - 58
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Abstract
Overview: The Hendrich II Fall Risk Model is used to assess a hospitalized patient's risk of falling. Designed to be administered quickly, it focuses on eight independent risk factors: confusion, disorientation, and impulsivity; symptomatic depression; altered elimination; dizziness or vertigo; male sex; administration of antiepileptics (or changes in dosage or cessation); administration of benzodiazepines; and poor performance in rising from a seated position in the Get-Up-and-Go test. (This screening tool is included in a series, Try This: Best Practices in Nursing Care to Older Adults, from the Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing at New York University's College of Nursing.) For a free online video demonstrating the use of this tool, go to http://links.lww.com/A111.
Alvin Stewart was a healthy, independent 65-year-old when he was hospitalized for partial lung resection for a nonmalignant tumor. (This case is a composite based on my experience.) Now, three days after surgery, his recovery has been complicated by inadequate pain control and chronic urinary retention and urgency, exacerbated by the general anesthesia. When asked to rise from the side of the bed or a chair, he has to push up with both hands. As he takes the first few steps he looks unsteady, walking with a noticeable sway, and he frequently grabs objects for support. Mr. Stewart is mildly disoriented from oxycodone (OxyContin and others), and he says that it causes him to feel dizzy and "forget exactly where I am."
The nurse discusses toileting assistance with him, and he expresses a strong desire to "go it alone and remain independent." She believes this desire for independence may prevent him from asking for or waiting for help when he needs it. The nurse had scanned Mr. Stewart's room for factors that might increase his risk of falling, but she knows that if his risk is high, additional interventions will be needed to reduce it. To ascertain his level of risk, the nurse uses the Hendrich II Fall Risk Model.
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