Transforming the fall-injury risk assessment tool from paper to electronic

In order to ensure the highest possible safety for our patients, we identified a need to introduce a falls risk assessment tool with high sensitivity, specificity and reliability within our institution. A comparative research study was conducted which evaluated several instruments against actual patient falls. Based on the findings a new instrument was selected and converted to an electronic format compatible with existing nursing informatics systems. We are now testing the use of this version of the instrument for its ability to guide appropriate interventions that prevent falls.