Use of a Functional Mobility Measure to Predict Discharge Destinations for Patients Admitted to an Older Adult Rehabilitation Ward: A Feasibility Study

Date
2018
Authors
Supervisor
Item type
Journal Article
Degree name
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Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Abstract

Objective: To investigate whether the discharge destination for older adults can be predicted using functional mobility as measured by the Modified Elderly Mobility Scale (MEMS), associated with demographic and primary reason for admission variables. Methods: A retrospective cohort population audit of 257 patients admitted and discharged from four tertiary older adult rehabilitation wards in a three-month period. A number of predictor variables were considered alongside the discharge destination. Results: Multinomial statistical modelling established that MEMS prior to (P < 0.001), MEMS on completion (P = 0.009) of rehabilitation physiotherapy and primary reason for admission (P = 0.002) were significant variables to predict discharge destination. The model correctly predicted 71% of observed patient discharge destinations. Conclusion: The MEMS in conjunction with primary reason for admission was able to predict discharge destination with 71% accuracy in a heterogeneous population of older adults following rehabilitation.

Description
Keywords
Aged; Aging; Patient discharge; Regression analysis; Rehabilitation
Source
Australasian Journal of Ageing, 37: E12-E16. doi:10.1111/ajag.12491
Rights statement
© 2017 The Authors. Australasian Journal on Ageing published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of AJA Inc. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.