Hospital fall prevention strategies and interventions typically use fall risk. assessment tools designed to measure parient risk for falling.
Although research exists on fall risk assessment tools, evidence to support the best tool for specific inpatient population types, such as psychiatric inpatients is lacking.
The incidence of falls per 1,000 days has been found to be higher on psychiatric units (13.1 to 25 per 1,000 inpatient days) than on acute care units (3 to 5 per 1,000 inpatient days) (Blair & Gruman, 2005).