Accidental falls in hospital inpatients: evaluation of sensitivity and specificity of two risk assessment tools
Articolo
Data di Pubblicazione:
2010
Citazione:
Accidental falls in hospital inpatients: evaluation of sensitivity and specificity of two risk assessment tools / C. Lovallo, S. Rolandi, A.M. Rossetti, M. Lusignani. - In: JOURNAL OF ADVANCED NURSING. - ISSN 0309-2402. - 66:3(2010), pp. 690-696. [10.1111/j.1365-2648.2009.05231.x]
Abstract:
Abstract
Title. Accidental falls in hospital inpatients: evaluation of sensitivity and specificity of two risk assessment tools.
Aim. This paper is a report of a study comparing the effectiveness of two falls risk
assessment tools (Conley Scale and Hendrich Risk Model) by using them simultaneously
with the same sample of hospital inpatients.
Background. Different risk assessment tools are available in literature. However,
neither recent critical reviews nor international guidelines on fall prevention have
identified tools that can be generalized to all categories of hospitalized patients.
Method. A prospective observational study was carried out in acute medical, surgical
wards and rehabilitation units. From October 2007 to January 2008, 1148
patients were assessed with both instruments, subsequently noting the occurrence of
falls. The sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, and
Receiver Operating Characteristics curves were calculated.
Results. The number of patients correctly identified with the Conley Scale (n = 41)
was higher than with the Hendrich Model (n = 27). The Conley Scale gave sensitivity
and specificity values of 69Æ49% and 61% respectively. The Hendrich Model
gave a sensitivity value of 45Æ76% and a specificity value of 71%. Positive and
negative predictive values were comparable.
Conclusion. The Conley Scale is indicated for use in the medical sector, on the
strength of its high sensitivity. However, since its specificity is very low, it is deemed
useful to submit individual patients giving positive results to more in-depth clinical
evaluation in order to decide whether preventive measures need to be taken. In
surgical sectors, the low sensitivity values given by both scales suggest that further
studies are warranted.
Tipologia IRIS:
01 - Articolo su periodico
Keywords:
accidental falls ; Conley Scale ; Hendrich Risk Model ; inpatients ; nursing ; risk assessment tools ; sensitivity ; specificity
Elenco autori:
C. Lovallo, S. Rolandi, A.M. Rossetti, M. Lusignani
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