Are triage questions sufficient to assign fall risk precautions in the Emergency Department?

摘要

ObjectivesThe American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) Geriatric Emergency Department (ED) guidelines and the Center for Disease Control (CDC) recommend that older adults be assessed for risk of falls. The standard ED assessment is a verbal query of fall risk factors, which may be inadequate. We hypothesized that the addition of a functional balance test endorsed by the CDC STEADI falls prevention guidelines, the 4 Stage Balance Test (4SBT), would improve the detection of patients at risk for falls.