Visual scale to document acute dizziness in the hospital.

BACKGROUND

Managing acute vertigo/dizziness for inpatients requires valid communication between the various healthcare professionals that triage such life-threatening presentations, yet there are no current scaling methods for managing such acute vertigo symptoms for inpatients.

OBJECTIVE

To describe the development and validation of the Krems Acute Vertigo/Dizziness Scale (KAVEDIS), a new instrument for tracking subjective symptoms (vertigo, dizziness) and gait impairment across four unique vestibular diagnoses (Menière's disease, benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, peripheral vestibular hypofunction, and vestibular migraine) over a one-year period after inpatient hospital admission.

METHODS

Retrospective data collection study from KAVEDIS scale and chart documentation.

RESULTS

The KAVEDIS scale can significantly distinguish scores from admission to discharge in three of four vestibular diagnoses. The documented course of subjective vestibular symptoms and gait disturbances were correlated in all four groups.

CONCLUSION

We suggest that KAVEDIS documentation among inpatients admitted with acute vertigo/dizziness may improve communication between the various intervening clinicians and help to raise concern in cases of symptomprogression.