Hester Davis fall risk scale

Definition

The HDS© fall risk assessment tool is used to identify acute care adult patients at high risk for falling, and also identifies why the patient is at higher risk so that individualized interventions can be included in the plan of care. The scale is composed of 9 risk factors. The presence of a risk factor is scored as 1 (absence is scored zero). The HDS psychometric evidence supports high content validity, very high construct validity, and reliability. A total score of one or more indicates high risk for falling. The Hester Davis Scale measures risk for anticipated physiologic falls using the factors of age, date of last known fall, mobility, medications, mental status, toileting needs, volume/electrolyte status, communication/sensory, and behavior, with multiple options per risk category. The category scores are summed to calculate the level of risk for falls. The scale has been validated for sensitivity and specificity in scoring fall risk.