CASE STUDY Patients who fall while in the hospital represent a serious health and economic problem. Fall rates in acute care settings are estimated at between approximately two to eighteen falls per 1,000 patient days (totaling more than one million in-patient falls annually in the U.S.), with up to 44% resulting in some degree of injury. Hospital costs for patients who fall without injury are on average $4,200 more than for non-fallers, and injury falls cost upward of $25,000 per incident. Unfortunately, however, hospitals have not had scientifically validated means for predicting which patients are at greatest risk for falling, or for preventing falls. Two registered nurses at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), Amy L. Hester and Dees M. Davis, devised the He

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