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Background: Accidental falls remain the most reported incidents in hospital settings. This is a quality and safety issue for the patient which needs to be addressed by the hospital organisation. Nurses need to assess the risk of falling using scales. However, nurses are sometimes unsure of what is the most appropriate tool. Objective: To provide information on the two most commonly used scales for assessing the risk of falling, i.e., the St Thomas’s Risk Assessment Tool in Falling Elderly Inpatients (STRATIFY) and the Morse Fall Scale (MFS). Main topics for analysis: The fall risk assessment tools which were the subject of more systematic reviews and prospective validation in two or more cohorts, with appropriate tests to predict their validity, were analysed. The review concluded that both scales identify patients who are at risk of falling based on their intrinsic or clinical characteristics. Conclusion: Hospitals should use scales which have already been developed and tested for data comparison. These scales should be culturally and linguistically adapted, and validated for the Portuguese language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Accidental falls remain the most reported incidents in hospital settings. This is a quality and safety issue for the patient which needs to be addressed by the hospital organisation. Nurses need to assess the risk of falling using scales. However, nurses are sometimes unsure of what is the most appropriate tool. Objective: To provide information on the two most commonly used scales for assessing the risk of falling, i.e., the St Thomas’s Risk Assessment Tool in Falling Elderly Inpatients (STRATIFY) and the Morse Fall Scale (MFS). Main topics for analysis: The fall risk assessment tools which were the subject of more systematic reviews and prospective validation in two or more cohorts, with appropriate tests to predict their validity, were analysed. The review concluded that both scales identify patients who are at risk of falling based on their intrinsic or clinical characteristics. Conclusion: Hospitals should use scales which have already been developed and tested for data comparison. These scales should be culturally and linguistically adapted, and validated for the Portuguese language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Patients’ falls are the most commonly reported safety incident in hospitals. Falls have clear consequences on the patient, family and health professionals. Prevention interventions should be prescribed based on each patient’s fall risk assessment. This assessment may be performed using scales such as the Morse Fall Scale (MFS). Despite being used in several hospitals, this scale was never formally validated until now. Objectives: To assess the degree of reproducibility of the MFS in hospital settings and examine its validity through correlations with other measuring instruments. Methodology: The study was conducted in two hospitals in the Lisbon area using a sample composed of 120 nurses, who applied the MFS to 200 patients. Each patient was assessed three times with the MFS by three different nurses. A total of 600 assessments were performed. Results: The Portuguese version is semantically and culturally equivalent to the original, with good reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient of 0.838 and interobserver agreement between 0.615 and 0.964, assessed using the mean kappa coefficient) and satisfactory convergent validity. Conclusion: The Portuguese version is recommended for use in hospital context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]