Morse Fall Risk Assessment

What the Morse Fall Risk Assessment is

A Morse Fall Risk Assessment is a structured way to judge how likely a patient is to fall. It is derived from the Morse Fall Scale (MFS) and is used to help assess a patient's likelihood of falling. You work through a fixed set of items and then convert the answers into a single fall risk rating so that the level of risk is stated rather than assumed. The tool behind this page is a ready-to-use Morse Fall Risk Assessment template. It asks six essential questions about the patient, and includes a risk rating table that helps you assign a fall risk rating of **High**, **Medium**, or **Low** from the responses you record.

Why assessing fall risk matters

Falls are a recognised concern in patient care, and the point of scoring risk is to make it explicit. Instead of noting that a patient 'seems unsteady', the assessment asks you to look at defined factors and record what you find: history of falling, secondary diagnosis, ambulatory aid, intravenous access, gait or transferring, and mental status. The result is a rating you can state clearly — High, Medium, or Low — and the questions that produced it remain visible for anyone reading the record afterwards.

What a good assessment covers

A good Morse Fall Risk Assessment is complete and consistent. The template captures both the administrative context and the clinical picture: - **History of falling** — whether the fall was immediate or within three months - **Secondary diagnosis** — whether one is present - **Ambulatory aid used** — bed rest or nurse assist, crutches, cane or walker, or furniture - **Intravenous apparatus or heparin lock** — whether one is inserted - **Gait or transferring mode** — normal, bed rest or immobile, weak, or impaired - **Mental status** — the patient's mental status Around those six items, the template records the date the assessment was conducted on, who prepared it, the location, the inspection's real start and end dates, a signature, and the finish time. Capturing the identifying details alongside the answers means the rating can be traced back to the visit that produced it.

How to use the assessment in practice

Start by recording the context: conducted on, prepared by, location, and the inspection's real start and end dates. Then answer the six essential questions in sequence. Three items — history of falling, secondary diagnosis, and intravenous apparatus or heparin lock — are answered **Yes**, **No**, or **N/A**. Ambulatory aid is recorded as one of *bed rest or nurse assist*, *crutches, cane or walker*, or *furniture*. Gait or transferring mode is recorded as *normal, bed rest or immobile*, *weak*, or *impaired*. Mental status is captured from the patient's condition. Once the six responses are in, use the risk rating table to assign a fall risk rating of **High**, **Medium**, or **Low**. Finish by adding your signature and the finish time.

Keeping completed assessments consistent

Because every assessment runs through the same six questions with defined answer options, recordings from different assessors are directly comparable. The administrative fields — conducted on, prepared by, location, signature, finish time, and the inspection's real start and end dates — keep each completed assessment attributable to a person, a place, and a time. The risk rating table supplies the interpretive step, so the output of the assessment is a rating in consistent terms rather than a free-text impression.

Frequently Asked Questions

The Morse Fall Scale looks at six items: whether the patient has a history of falling (immediate or within the past three months), whether there is a secondary diagnosis, what ambulatory aid is used (bed rest or nurse assist, crutches, cane or walker, or furniture), whether an intravenous apparatus or heparin lock is inserted, the patient's gait or transferring mode (normal, bed rest or immobile, weak, or impaired), and the patient's mental status.

You ask the six essential questions, record the answer to each, and then use the risk rating table to assign a fall risk rating of High, Medium, or Low based on the responses.

The checklists includes spaces for the date it was conducted on, who prepared it, the location, a signature, the finish time, and the inspection's real start and end dates.

Two of the items concern immobility and movement: whether an intravenous apparatus or heparin lock is inserted, and how the patient's gait or transferring mode appears — normal, bed rest or immobile, weak, or impaired.

That item is answered Yes, No, or N/A, just as the history of falling, secondary diagnosis, and intravenous apparatus questions are.

Yes, the risk rating table built into the template will help you assign a fall risk rating of High, Medium, or Low from the answers you give to the six essential questions.

Written by

Arne Reis

Founder

Process optimizer with 25 years of expertise, focused on operational excellence in quality, maintenance, EHS, and commissioning. Emphasizes innovative solutions and top-quality standards.

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