Evaluation of the current status of Functional Independence Measure in rehabilitation hospitals: Comparison of new hires and incumbents

新入職者と在職者の比較

Abstract

In rehabilitation hospitals, rehabilitation professionals need to understand the patient’s condition and correctly evaluate their activities of daily living (ADL) to set rehabilitation goals. In this study, we investigated the current status of functional independence measure (FIM) as an index of ADL for rehabilitation professionals. Evaluation items included patients’ attributes and the degree to which rehabilitation professionals understood the evaluation contents of motor FIM items, which included self-care (6 items), excretion control (2 items), transfer (3 items), and physical movement (2 items). The analysis method involved the classification of rehabilitation professionals working at this hospital into two groups: the new hire and incumbent groups. Then, each evaluation item was compared between the two groups. Results showed that the degree to which rehabilitation professionals understood the evaluation contents on eating, grooming, dressing upper body, and bowel management was significantly lower in the new hire group than in the incumbent group. However, no significant differences were observed in other items between the two groups. This suggests that it may be more difficult for new hires to score evaluations of ADL movements that require careful observation and data collection of patients than it is for incumbents.