Score the six items of the Morse Fall Scale — fall history, secondary diagnosis, ambulatory aid, IV therapy, gait and mental status — for the total fall-risk score.
Risk bands shown are the scale's original published groupings. The Morse score is one part of a falls assessment — medication review, environment and supervision also matter, and interventions follow your local falls policy.
What is the Morse Fall Scale?
The Morse Fall Scale is a quick, widely used method of assessing how likely a hospital patient is to fall. It scores six items — history of falling, secondary diagnosis, ambulatory aid, IV therapy, gait, and mental status — each weighted, giving a total that groups the patient into no, low or high risk.
What Morse score is high risk?
In the scale's original groupings, scores over 50 are high risk, 25–50 are low risk, and 0–24 identify no risk. Some hospitals set their own action thresholds, so the local policy decides what each band triggers.
How does the gait item score?
A normal gait — walking with the head up, arms swinging freely — scores 0, as does a patient on bed rest or immobile. A weak gait, where the patient is stooped and takes short steps but can lift the head, scores 10. An impaired gait — difficulty rising, head down, holding furniture — scores 20.