Clinical relevance of the Humpty Dumpty Falls Scale in a pediatric specialty hospital.

The Joint Commission requires pediatric hospitals to implement fall prevention programs and evaluate the efficacy of such programs. The Humpty Dumpty Falls Scale (HDFS), a seven-item assessment scale used to document age, gender, diagnosis, cognitive impairments, environmental factors, response to surgery/sedation, and medication usage, is one of several instruments developed to assess fall risk in pediatric patients. To determine the specificity and sensitivity of the HDFS in predicting falls in children hospitalized for pediatric specialty care, a team at a pediatric specialty hospital conducted a nonexperimental retrospective study that used a matched case-control design and chart review analysis. The discoveries suggest that the HDFS lacks accuracy in pediatric specialty patients. Using the HDFS cut-off score of 12 and above to indicate a high risk for falls in these children yields a high false-positive rate. Investigators and staff at pediatric specialty hospitals need to continue their pursuit of valid instruments and tools that contribute to fall reduction.