The Morse Fall Scale (MFS) is a rapid and simple method of assessing a

patient A patient is any recipient of health care services that are performed by healthcare professionals. The patient is most often ill or injured and in need of treatment by a physician, nurse, optometrist, dentist, veterinarian, or other health c ...

’s likelihood of

falling Falling or fallin' may refer to: *Falling (physics), movement due to gravity *Falling (accident) *Falling (execution) *Falling (sensation) People * Christine Falling (born 1963), American serial killer who murdered six children Books * ''Fall ...

. A large majority of

nurses Nursing is a profession within the health care sector focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life. Nurses may be differentiated from other health ca ...

(82.9%) rate the scale as “quick and easy to use,” and 54% estimated that it took less than 3 minutes to rate a patient. "The scale consists of six items reflecting risk factors of falling such as: (i) history of falling, (ii) secondary diagnosis, (iii) ambulatory aids, (iv) intravenous therapy, (v) type of gait and (vi) mental status",Schwendimann, R.; De Geest, S.; Milisen, K. (May 2006). "Evaluation of the Morse Fall Scale in hospitalised patients". Age and Ageing. 35 (3): 311–313. doi:10.1093/ageing/afj066. Retrieved 1 November 2019. and it has been shown to have predictive validity and interrater reliability. The MFS is used widely in

acute care Acute care is a branch of secondary health care where a patient receives active but short-term treatment for a severe injury or episode of illness, an urgent medical condition, or during recovery from surgery.Alberta Health ServicesAcute care.Acces ...

settings, both in the

hospital A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emerge ...

and

long-term care Long-term care (LTC) is a variety of services which help meet both the medical and non-medical needs of people with a chronic illness or disability who cannot care for themselves for long periods. Long-term care is focused on individualized and ...

inpatient settings. The manual for using the MFS is: Preventing Patient Falls (Morse, JM., Springer, 2008).

References

Medical scales {{med-diagnostic-stub