For healthcare professionals
Morse Fall Scale
The Morse Fall Scale rates a hospital patient's risk of falling from six items: history of falling, secondary diagnosis, ambulatory aid, IV therapy or heparin lock, gait and mental status. The total runs from 0 to 125, and a higher score means a higher risk. Morse and colleagues published it in 1989. This calculator is written for clinicians and is not a diagnosis.
Items
Choose the finding for each item. Nothing you enter leaves this page.
What you will see
The total from 0 to 125 and the fall risk level.
Educational only, not medical advice. Not a diagnosis. Fall prevention plans belong to the care team.
Source
Morse JM and colleagues, 1989. Items and points are taken from Table 1 of an open-access (CC BY) study, Lee MJ and colleagues, Healthcare 2023. The risk levels used here (0 to 24 low, 25 to 44 moderate, 45 or more high) are from Table 2 of Singh H and colleagues, BMC Health Services Research 2020 (CC BY). The tests check every item, the level edges and a worked example.
Validated in
Adults in hospital. Lee 2023 studied 450 patients in a general hospital in Seoul; Noh 2021 compared 210 older adults who fell in an acute hospital with 410 who did not; Singh 2020 describes its use in spinal cord injury rehabilitation.
Limits
Cut-offs are not uniform: Lee 2023 used 24 or less as no risk, 25 to 50 as low and 51 or more as high risk, and earlier studies found optimal cut-offs from 45 to 55. In Lee 2023 the scale was an acceptable predictor of falls (area under the curve 0.68), and its sensitivity and specificity differ by clinical setting (Lee 2023).
Morse Fall Scale items
Add the points for each item (Lee 2023). The total runs from 0 to 125 (Noh 2021).
History of falling (immediate or within 3 months)
- No: 0
- Yes: 25
Secondary diagnosis
- No: 0
- Yes: 15
Ambulatory aid
- Bed rest or nurse assist: 0
- Crutches, cane or walker: 15
- Furniture: 30
IV therapy or heparin lock
- No: 0
- Yes: 20
Gait or transferring
- Normal, bed rest or immobile: 0
- Weak: 10
- Impaired: 20
Mental status
- Oriented to own ability: 0
- Forgets limitations: 15
Risk levels
| Score | Fall risk |
|---|---|
| 0 to 24 | Low risk |
| 25 to 44 | Moderate risk |
| 45 or more | High risk |
Levels as printed by Singh and colleagues (Singh 2020). Noh and colleagues also defined 45 or more as high risk (Noh 2021). Lee and colleagues used 24 or less, 25 to 50, and 51 or more (Lee 2023). The scale was published by Morse and colleagues (Morse 1989).
Worked example: a patient with a secondary diagnosis (15), an IV line (20) and a weak gait (10), with no recent fall, no ambulatory aid and oriented to their own ability, scores 45, high risk on these levels.
What the studies found
In a case-control study of older adults in an acute hospital, the mean score was 39.3 in patients who fell and 30.4 in those who did not, and a score of 45 or more was linked with a higher risk of falls (Noh 2021). In 450 patients in a general hospital, falls were more common at higher levels, but only the high-risk group (51 or more) differed significantly from the no-risk group over time (Lee 2023).
Related calculators
For older adults living at home, see the fall risk check. For warning signs of deterioration in hospital, see the Modified Early Warning Score. Other bedside scores are listed under For healthcare professionals.
Sources
- Lee MJ, Seo BJ, Kim MY. Time-varying hazard of patient falls in hospital: a retrospective case-control study. Healthcare (Basel). 2023;11(15):2194. doi:10.3390/healthcare11152194. PMID 37570434. Open access (CC BY). Table 1 (Morse Fall Scale items and points), Results and Discussion (450 patients, risk levels, cut-offs). pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10419100/
- Singh H, Flett HM, Silver MP, Craven BC, Jaglal SB, Musselman KE. Current state of fall prevention and management policies and procedures in Canadian spinal cord injury rehabilitation. BMC Health Serv Res. 2020;20(1):299. doi:10.1186/s12913-020-05168-8. PMID 32293443. Open access (CC BY). Table 2 (Morse Fall Scale: 125 maximum; 0-24 low, 25-44 moderate, 45 or more high fall risk). pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7157992/
- Noh HM, Song HJ, Park YS, Han J, Roh YK. Fall predictors beyond fall risk assessment tool items for acute hospitalized older adults: a matched case-control study. Sci Rep. 2021;11(1):1503. doi:10.1038/s41598-021-81034-9. PMID 33452370. Open access (CC BY). Methods (total 0 to 125, 45 or more high risk) and Table 2. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7810864/
Written and maintained by the uncovermyrisk.com editorial team. We do not have a medical reviewer; every claim links to its primary source above. Last reviewed: 2026-11-02. Spotted an error? See About.