Using Chief Complaint in Addition to Diagnosis Codes to Identify Falls in the Emergency Department.
Brian W PattersonMaureen A SmithMichael D RepplingerMichael S PuliaJames E SvensonMichael K KimManish N ShahPublished in: Journal of the American Geriatrics Society (2017)
Identifying individuals in the ED who have fallen based on diagnosis codes underestimates the true burden of falls. Individuals missed according to the code-based definition were less likely to have been admitted than those who were captured. These findings call attention to the value of using chief complaint information to identify individuals who have fallen in the ED-for research, clinical care, or policy reasons.