The General Risk Assessment for Pediatric Inpatient Falls scale was developed by Graf (2005) based on retrospective record reviews that sought to explain pediatric fall risk through positive associations with a variety of clinical risk factors. These reviews revealed a positive associations with length of stay, absence of intravenous therapy, physical or occupational therapy underway, seizure medications, and orthopedic diagnoses (Graf ,2005).
The Children’s Hospital of Denver adapted Graf’s study design and correlated age, length of stay neurologic or orthopedic diagnosis, physical or occupational therapy, and seizure medications. These indicators were combined whit other known factors into s scored fall risk assessment tool under the acronym “I’m safe.” The acronym represents the risk factors of Impairment, Medications, Sedation, Admitting diagnosis, Fall history, and Environment. Scores then classified patients into one of three risk categories depending on the degree of risk, and a corresponding intervention set is assigned to each of these categories (Rannie & Neiman,2008).
The Miami Children’s Hospital developed the Humpty Dumpty Pediatric Falls Assessment^TM from a retrospective study of clinical criteria that accompanied falls in pediatric inpatients (Wood, 2006). The assessment tool comprises seven areas correlated with falls, including age, gender, diagnosis, cognition, environmental factors, medications, and response to surgery or anesthesia. The instrument indicates high risk at scores greater than 11 and patients scoring 7 to 11 are categorized as low risk. Both the low and high-risk groups are assigned corresponding intervention sets for clinicians to incorporate into practice (Wood, 2006).
An important consideration that greatly affects identification of fall risk in children is the age of the child population for whom a risk assessment program is designed. Highly dependent on the child’s developmental stage, fall risk behaviors are likely to change and evolve, and over very short periods. This is the primary reason why the pediatric age continuum of birth to adolescence limits the effectiveness of a “one-size-fits-all” approach to fall risk assessment. Tools in clinical use choose alternately to all pediatric patients regardless of their developmental stage. The challenge of identifying fall risk in the context of these rapidly changing circumstances formed the basis for tool design outlined later in this article. As the infant-toddler age range has been noted to pose the highest risk of falls and fall-related injury, the Christiana Care Visiting Nurse Association (VNA) determined that a risk assessment tool tailored to the needs of this age group for use is a home health setting was appropriate and necessary.
Performance Improvement Project
A pediatric and graduate student nurse formed a core unit acting collaboratively with performance improvement and nursing education staff over a 12-week period to adopt a fall risk tool that would effectively meet the needs of the infant – toddler home care population. Early discussions centered on requirements needed to ensure a tool’s maxi-mum effectiveness in the home setting. Ease of use was also determined to be a quality necessary for program success. The risk assessment in practice should discern factors that mitigate risk beyond everyday matters of chance and that are amenable to intervention by clinicians. Simplicity, brevity, and ease of use were also thought to facilitate accurate completion and foster acceptance by clinical staff.
A review of the organization’s fall definition revealed that a fall was considered to be any unintentional change of plane, with or without injury. Morse (2009) has stated that an infant is incapable of falling and that any recorded fall event for this age group is an error. The opinion that an infant can only be dropped by an adult was considered but ultimately was not adopted. Another issue considered was the concept of “de -velopmental falls” experienced by toddlers in the course of learning to walk (Morse, 2009). These types of falls, while routine and often benign in their consequences, were felt to be subject to some degree of intervention by clinical staff. In some degree of intervention by clinical staff. In a home health setting, these types of falls, while routine and often benign in their consequences, were felt to be subject to some degree of intervention by clinical staff. In a home health setting, these types of falls would not likely be reported by caregivers as a fall unless an injury had occurred as a result.
A final condition for tool development was its ability to integrate into the agency’s clinical soft-ware. Clinical staff are empowered to document electronically using laptop computers but have access to a paper version in the event of software downtime.
Developmental Stages of the Infant- Toddler Child
The problem of fall- related injuries in the pediatric population is closely linked to the develop-mental stage of the child (Flavin et al., 2006).
Figure 1. Infant - Toddler Developmental Characteristics.
Birth: Extremities weak with nonpur - poseful movement, neck does not support the head, hands balled in fist, 100% dependency for locomotion and positioning.
3 months: Infant can raise head and chest while on stomach, holds hands open or closed, grasps objects, hand-eye coordination is developing.
6 months: Infant can roll from side to side, supports own head while sitting upright, able to pull self up while holding onto objects, reaches for objects beyond reach, exploring behavior begins.
12 months: Infant crawls on hands and knees, can rise to a standing position, takes steps holding onto furniture or holding a person’s hand, mimics adult behavior.
18 months: Child can walk unassisted, runs while staring at the ground.
2 years: Child can walk up and down steps, can take steps backward, opens cabinets and drawers, able to stack objects.
Circumstances that pose little risk to an infant age 6 months may present a high probability of injury to an 18-month-old toddler who is exhibiting curiosity white walking. In general, falls in children under age 2 can be traced to adult supervisory lapses, environmental hazards, and exploring behavior whit developing mobility. The developmental milestones of early childhood occur rapidly and with little advance notice in children under age 2. Interventions implemented 12 weeks ago may already be obsolete due to new abilities arising from normal childhood development. Caregivers need to be aware of expected milestones to alert themselves to newly arising risks in the home.
As a rule, a child’s physical development outpaces their cognitive development during these early years. The progression of developmental stages also may not parallel a child’s chronological age and the possibility of developmental delay may be a factor in the child’s necessity for home healthcare. Failure to anticipate developmental milestones poses a challenge for caregivers and clinicians alike in adapting their approaches to risky behaviors and environmental hazards. With these considerations in mind, it was decided that the fall risk assessment would need to offer a stratified risk profile that varied with different stages of development. The tool’s design then would focus on the most likely risk scenarios that corresponded to different stages of a child’s development.