Abstract

Falls are the cases which impair quality of life of the patients, prolong duration of therapy, increase health care expenditures and which may be predicted and prevented through a good assessment. Prevention of falls of the patients has put in the context of patient safety procedures. Falls occur due to interaction of many risk factors including biological, behavioral, environmental and socio-economic factors. Prevention of falls which is an important component of nursing care and patient safety is a process which begins with fall risk assessment. Many fall risk assessment tools like Itaki, Harizmi, Morse, Hendrich II fall risk assessment scale are available in literature. The scales may either be used in all patient groups or may be specific for a patient group. In this review, characteristics of frequently used risk assessment tools were analyzed for increasing awareness of the nurses when selecting fall risk assessment tools.