How to try this: Predicting patient falls

The Hendrich II Fall Risk Model is used to assess a hospitalized patient's risk of falling. Designed to be administered quickly, it focuses on eight independent risk factors: confusion, disorientation, and impulsivity; symptomatic depression; altered elimination; dizziness or vertigo; male sex; administration of antiepileptics (or changes in dosage or cessation); administration of benzodiazepines; and poor performance in rising from a seated position in the Get-Up-and-Go test. (This screening tool is included in a series, Try This: Best Practices in Nursing Care to Older Adults, from the Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing at New York University's College of Nursing.) For a free online video demonstrating the use of this tool, go to http://links.lww.com/A111. © 2007 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Inc.