Skip to main content
. 2020 Jun 30;25:1392. doi: 10.4102/hsag.v25i0.1392

TABLE 1.

Categories of injuries due to patient falls.

Category Description
None No injury to a patient after the fall
Minor Application of a dressing, limb elevation, pain relief or attending to bruising
Moderate Possible suturing, or applying a splint or bandage due to a sprain
Major Surgery and/or casting due to a fractured limb, skull (including subdural hematomas), ribs or any laceration including a rupture of the liver
Death Succumbing to the injury following the fall

Source: Emergency Care Research Institute (ECRI), 2016, ‘Falls’, Healthcare Risk Control 14, 1–49, viewed 15 March 2018, from https://www.ecri.org/components/HRC/Pages/SafSec2.aspx?tab=1.