Retrospective analysis of nurse-administered fall assessment scales in the Epilepsy Monitoring Unit

•The presence of a fall before EMU admission predicts a high fall risk during an EMU admission, particularly within the first three days.•Existing Nurse Administered fall risk assessment tools did not effectively predict fall risk in EMU.•Additional research is needed to guide a validated EMU-specif...

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Published in:Epilepsy & behavior 2023-03, Vol.140, p.109080-109080, Article 109080
Main Authors: Johnson, Michael A.L., Boudreaux, Arlene, Abou-Khalil, Bassel
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Epilepsy - diagnosis
Epilepsy Monitoring Unit (EMU)
Fall-risk
Falls
Hospitalization
Humans
Inpatients
National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators (NDNQI)
Nurse-Administered Fall Risk Assessment Tools (NAFRAT)
Retrospective Studies
Risk Assessment
Safety
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Summary:•The presence of a fall before EMU admission predicts a high fall risk during an EMU admission, particularly within the first three days.•Existing Nurse Administered fall risk assessment tools did not effectively predict fall risk in EMU.•Additional research is needed to guide a validated EMU-specific NAFRAT to stratify fall risk in patients admitted to the EMU accurately. Inpatient falls within the Epilepsy Monitoring Unit (EMU) are a common, and potentially preventable adverse event contributing to morbidity for patients living with epilepsy. Accurate fall risk screening is important to identify and efficiently allocate proper safety measures to high-risk patients, especially in EMUs with limited resources. We sought to compare existing screening tools for the ability to predict falls in the EMU. This is a retrospective, single-center, case-controlled, comparative analysis of 7 nurse-administered fall risk assessment tools (NAFRAT) of patients admitted to the Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) EMU. Analysis of categorical data was compared using chi-square analysis while quantitative distributions were compared using student’s t-test. A total of 56 patient records (28 falls and 28 controls) were included in the analysis. Epilepsy Monitoring Unit falls were most common within the first 3 days of admission (p = .0094). Pre-admission documentation of falls was a strong predictor of falls within the EMU (p 
ISSN:1525-5050
1525-5069
DOI:10.1016/j.yebeh.2022.109080