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The validity of three fall risk screening tools in an acute geriatric inpatient population
Author(s) -
Latt Mark Dominic,
Loh K Florence,
Ge Ludi,
Hepworth Annie
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
australasian journal on ageing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.63
H-Index - 34
eISSN - 1741-6612
pISSN - 1440-6381
DOI - 10.1111/ajag.12256
Subject(s) - medicine , confidence interval , emergency medicine
Aim We examined the validity of the Ontario Modified STRATIFY ( OM ) ( St T homas's R isk A ssessment T ool in F alling E lderly I npatients), T he N orthern H ospital M odified STRATIFY ( TNH ) and STRATIFY in predicting falls in an acute aged care unit. Methods Data were collected prospectively from 217 people presenting consecutively and falls identified during hospitalisation. Results Sensitivities of OM (80.0, 95% confidence interval ( CI ) 58.4 to 91.9%), TNH (85, CI 64.0 to 94.8%) and STRATIFY (80.0, CI 58.4 to 91.0%) were similar. The STRATIFY had higher specificity (61.4, CI 54.5 to 67.9%) than OM (37.1, CI 30.6 to 44.0%) and TNH (51.3, CI 44.3 to 58.2%). Accuracy (percentage of patients correctly classified as ‘faller’ or ‘non‐faller’) was higher using STRATIFY (63.1, CI 56.5 to 69.3%) and TNH (54.4, CI 47.8 to 61.0%) than with OM (41.0, CI 34.7 to 47.7%, P < 0.0001). Conclusion S creening tools have limited accuracy in identifying patients at high risk of falls.