Purpose: The purpose of this descriptive study was to assess whether the Humpty Dumpty Falls Scale (HDFS) identifies hospitalized pediatric patients at high risk for falls.
Design and methods: The study was a matched case-control design. A chart review of 153 pediatric cases who fell and 153 controls who did not fall were pair-matched by age, gender, and diagnosis.
Results: High-risk patients fell almost twice as often as low-risk patients (odds ratio 1.87, confidence interval = 1.01, 3.53, p = .03).
Practice implications: A Falls Prevention Pediatric Program with the HDFS tool addresses the Joint Commission Patient Safety Goals, but further research is needed to examine HDFS sensitivity-specificity.