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Biomedical subjects

B E Fries

Publications and source records attributed to B E Fries.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1997

Association of the Resident Assessment Instrument (RAI) with changes in function, cognition, and psychosocial status.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the impact of the Resident Assessment Instrument (RAI) on changes in nursing home residents' functional status, cognitive status, and psychosocial well-being. DESIGN: A quasi-experiment involving the collection of longitudinal data on two cohorts of nursing home residents. One cohort was assessed before the implementation of the RAI, and the other was assessed after the implementation of the new assessment process. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Over 2000 nursing home residents in 267 nursing homes located in 10 geographic areas were assessed during the pre-RAI period. In the post-RAI period, 2000 new residents in 254 of the same facilities were assessed. INTERVENTION: RAI implementation began in October 1990 and continued until October 1991. The RAI includes a structured, multidimensional resident assessment and problem identification system designed to form the basis for residents' care plans. MEASUREMENTS: All residents were assessed at baseline and at 6 months using the Minimum Data Set for Nursing Home Resident Assessment and Care Screening (MDS) and its protocols. All data were collected by research nurses employed and trained by the research team. RESULTS: Implementation of the RAI significantly reduced the rate of decline in seven of the nine outcomes under consideration. Reductions in improvement were also observed in all outcomes. In activities of daily living, social engagement, and cognitive function, the reduced decline far outweighed any reductions in improvement. In mood problems, problem behaviors, and understanding others, however, reductions in improvement were greater than any reductions in decline. Changes in the rates of decline and improvement were not uniform across all residents. CONCLUSION: The RAI may have improved the quality of care of nursing home residents by reducing overall rates of decline in important areas of resident function. However, this innovation may have generated trade-offs in that it may have reduced improvement rates in some areas of function. The system's implementation also seems to have focused staff's attention on the needs and strengths of specific subpopulations of residents. Revisions of the RAI must assist staff in generalizing their efforts to all residents and to increasing improvement rates, especially in areas related to mood and behavior.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1997

Effect of the National Resident Assessment Instrument on selected health conditions and problems.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of the implementation of the National Resident Assessment Instrument (RAI) system on selected conditions representing outcomes for nursing home residents. DESIGN: Quasi-experimental, pre-/post-design, with assessments at baseline and 6-month follow-up. SAMPLE: Two thousand one hundred twenty-eight residents from 268 nursing homes in 10 states before RAI implementation, and 2,088 from 254 of the same nursing homes after implementation. MEASURES: From the full RAI Minimum Data Set, measures of dehydration, falls, decubitus, vision problems, stasis ulcer, pain, dental status (poor teeth), and malnutrition were examined at baseline and 6 months later. Poor nutrition was evaluated using a body mass index score below 20 and vision using a 4-level scale; other conditions were represented by their presence or absence. Decline and improvement were computed as the changes in level between baseline and follow-up, limiting the sample to those who could manifest each such change. MAIN RESULTS: Of eight health conditions representing poorer health status, dehydration and stasis ulcer had significantly lower prevalence after the implementation of the RAI (1993) compared with 1990. At the same time, there was an increase in the prevalence of daily pain. Fewer residents declined over 6 months in nutrition and vision after implementation. Although for these two conditions there were also significantly reduced rates of improvement, the net was an overall reduction in the 6-month rate of decline for all residents. Pain also demonstrated a decline in the postimplementation rate of improvement. The combined eight conditions showed reductions in the rates of both decline and improvement. CONCLUSIONS: Several outcomes for nursing home residents improved after implementation of the RAI. Of the four conditions for which there are significant declines in prevalence or outcome changes, three are specifically addressed in the care planning guidelines incorporated the RAI system (all except stasis ulcer, although there is a RAP for decubitus ulcer). Pain, the only other condition with a significant result --an increase in baseline prevalence--also has no RAP. Although the changes might be ascribed otherwise, they support the premise that the RAI has directly contributed to improved outcomes for nursing home residents.

Accidental Falls↗
PubMed1997

Changes in hospitalization associated with introducing the Resident Assessment Instrument.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the rates of hospitalization among cohorts of nursing home residents assembled before and after the implementation of the federally mandated Resident Assessment Instrument (RAI). SAMPLE: Subjects were nursing home residents chosen from 268 facilities in major Metropolitan Statistics Areas in 10 states and representing more than 1500 facilities and 60,000 residents. Two resident cohorts (1990 and 1993) were sampled (8 to 16 residents per facility, depending upon facility size) as part of an evaluation of the impact of implementing the RAI. METHODS: Research nurses reviewed records, interviewed staff, observed patients, and completed an RAI at baseline and 6 months later. All transitions during this interval (hospital admissions, nursing home transfers, returns home, death, etc.) were tracked. Using polytomous logistic regression, we tested the effect of cohort on the probability of being hospitalized in light of the competing risks of dying or remaining in the home, controlling for demographic and casemix variables, and having a DNR order in the chart. RESULTS: A total of 4196 residents were studied, 2118 in 1990 (age 81.3, female 77.7%, LOS 6+ months 49.8%) and 2078 in 1993 (age 81.7, females 75.5%, LOS 6+ months 50.2%). The unadjusted probability of hospitalization dropped from .205 to .151. Multivariate analyses revealed a significant adjusted odds of hospitalization of .74 (95% CI .60-.91) and no cohort effect on home discharge or death. Among severely cognitively impaired residents, the adjusted odds of hospitalization in 1993 compared with the 1990 cohort was 0.74 (.53-1.03). Finally, among survivors in both cohorts who had a follow-up MDS performed, and whose ADL remained stable, 15.9% were hospitalized in 1990, whereas only 10.9% were hospitalized in 1993. On the other hand, ADL decliners were more likely to have been hospitalized in 1993 than in 1990 (40.6% vs 25.2%). CONCLUSIONS: Although other changes in the industry, clinical practice, and health care policy may have influenced hospitalization of nursing home residents, the substantial reductions observed among the cognitively impaired and those with stable ADL suggest superior and uniform assessment information in the form of the RAI contributed significantly to this decline.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1997

A commitment to change: revision of HCFA's RAI.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the reliability of new assessment items and their clinical utility as judged by experienced nurse assessors, based on the results from the field test of Version 2.0 of the Resident Assessment Instrument (RAI). DESIGN: Independent dual assessment of residents of nursing facilities by staff nurses using a draft of Version 2.0 of the minimum data set (MDS). SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: A total of 187 randomly selected residents from 21 nursing homes in seven states volunteered to test Version 2.0 of the MDS. MEASUREMENT: The full array of MDS assessment items included measures in the following areas: Background information, cognitive patterns, communication/hearing, vision, mood and behavior, psychosocial well-being, physical functioning and structural problems, continence, disease diagnoses, health condition, oral/nutritional status, dental status, skin condition, activity pursuit patterns, medications, special treatments and procedures, and discharge potential and overall status. RESULTS: Evaluative data address issues of MDS item utility and reliability. For new items, almost all achieved a reasonably high-weighted Kappa interrater reliability; revised items also surpassed earlier items, and with the updated training materials, even the non-changed items had higher average reliability levels. Based on the success of the field test and the positive response of the industry, Version 2.0 of the RAI has been adopted, and HCFA has initiated a more long-range process to update further the RAI when necessary. CONCLUSION: Findings support the reliability and clinical utility of the new and revised assessment items incorporated by HCFA in Version 2.0 of the MDS.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1997

Comprehensive clinical assessment in community setting: applicability of the MDS-HC.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the results of an international trial of the home care version of the MDS assessment and problem identification system (the MDS-HC), including reliability estimates, a comparison of MDS-HC reliabilities with reliabilities of the same items in the MDS 2.0 nursing home assessment instrument, and an examination of the types of problems found in home care clients using the MDS-HC. DESIGN: Independent, dual assessment of clients of home-care agencies by trained clinicians using a draft of the MDS-HC, with additional descriptive data regarding problem profiles for home care clients. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Reliability data from dual assessments of 241 randomly selected clients of home care agencies in five countries, all of whom volunteered to test the MDS-HC. Also included are an expanded sample of 780 home care assessments from these countries and 187 dually assessed residents from 21 nursing homes in the United States. MEASUREMENTS: The array of MDS-HC assessment items included measures in the following areas: personal items, cognitive patterns, communication/hearing, vision, mood and behavior, social functioning, informal support services, physical functioning, continence, disease diagnoses health conditions and preventive health measures, nutrition/hydration, dental status, skin condition, environmental assessment, service utilization, and medications. RESULTS: Forty-seven percent of the functional, health status, social environment, and service items in the MDS-HC were taken from the MDS 2.0 for nursing homes. For this item set, it is estimated that the average weighted Kappa is .74 for the MDS-HC and .75 for the MDS 2.0. Similarly, high reliability values were found for items newly introduced in the MDS-HC (weighted Kappa = .70). Descriptive findings also characterize the problems of home care clients, with subanalyses within cognitive performance levels. CONCLUSION: Findings indicate that the core set of items in the MDS 2.0 work equally well in community and nursing home settings. New items are highly reliable. In tandem, these instruments can be used within the international community, assisting and planning care for older adults within a broad spectrum of service settings, including nursing homes and home care programs. With this community-based, second-generation problem and care plan-driven assessment instrument, disability assessment can be performed consistently across the world.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1997

Predicting discharge outcomes of VA nursing home residents.

This article's purpose was to identify predictors of discharge outcomes of VA nursing home stays. Using data tapes, diagnostic and assessment data were assembled on elderly individuals admitted to VA nursing homes nationwide during Fiscal Year 1987. Six-month outcomes for 3 groups were considered: all residents (n = 5,895), and those remaining in care after 6 (n = 2,815) and 12 months (n = 1,812), respectively. Logistic regression was used to evaluate predictors of death and community discharge. Limited activities of daily living (ADL) dependency, younger age, and receipt of rehabilitation services most consistently predicted community discharge. ADL dependency, older age, oxygen use, terminally ill prognosis, malignancy, and congestive heart failure most consistently predicted mortality. For both dependent variables, predictive ability declined as stay length increased. Predicting death and community discharge become increasingly problematic as stay lengthens. Comparing observed versus expected discharge outcomes has limited usefulness as a quality-improvement tool.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1996

Facility and area variation affecting the use of physical restraints in nursing homes.

OBJECTIVES: Various individual characteristics increase a nursing home resident's likelihood of being mechanically restrained. However, there is not good information on the role played by facility characteristics and geographic area in determining the likelihood of physical restraint use. This study investigates the importance of individual, facility, and area indicators in determining the likelihood of restraint use. METHODS: This research uses data on 2,000 nursing home residents receiving care in more than 250 nursing homes in 10 different areas. Resident-level data were collected in 1990 by research nurses using the Minimum Data Set for Nursing Home Resident Assessment and Care Screening. Facility-level data were gathered by telephone interviews with facility staff. The relations among the variables were investigated using contingency tables and multivariate logistic regression models. RESULTS: Controlling for residents' physical and cognitive function, facility characteristics and location had a significant impact on restraint practices. Those facilities with low nurse staffing were more likely to restrain residents. Furthermore, controlling for these factors, restraint practices varied significantly across the geographic areas in the study. CONCLUSIONS: Like hospitals, nursing homes exhibit significant interfacility and regional variation in their clinical practices. Future analyses of nursing home care might benefit from considering both factors in much finer detail.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1996

Health and economic implications of a work-site smoking-cessation program: a simulation analysis.

In this article, we examine the health and economic implications of a workplace smoking-cessation program by using a simulation model that includes, among its novel features, consideration of long-term as well as short-term implications and evaluation of the effects of employee turnover on benefits derived by both the firm and the broader community. As a result of employee turnover, approximately half of the program-generated benefits are realized by the community outside the firm. Still, smoking cessation is a very sound economic investment for the firm, and is particularly profitable when long-term benefits are included, with an eventual benefit-cost ratio of 8.75. Saving life-years at a cost of $894 each, the program is more cost-effective than most of the conventional medical care covered by the firm's insurance. Nevertheless, the intervention successfully addresses only a fraction of the costs that smoking imposes on the firm.

Absenteeism↗
PubMed1996

Patterns and determinants of health services use and mortality after VA nursing home care.

Risk factors for institutionalization and death for up to four years for a nationwide cohort (n = 6,488) of males discharged alive from Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) nursing homes were identified through linked records of the DVA. Two-year cumulative probabilities of nursing home readmission, hospitalization, and death among nursing home dischargees were 0.30, 0.61, and 0.24, respectively. Using multivariate survival analyses, chronic functional impairments and past nursing home use were important predictors of nursing home readmission, whereas hospitalizations for exacerbations of chronic medical conditions were predictors of hospitalization and death. Past hospitalizations predicted all three outcomes. Differences in risk factors for nursing home readmission as compared with hospitalization or death among DVA nursing home dischargees suggest that high-risk patients can be identified at nursing home discharge and that different types of interventions will be necessary to decrease nursing home readmission as compared with hospitalization or death. Future development of linked record systems across multiple settings, both within and outside the DVA, will help to further characterize persons at high risk of institutionalization or death and to design and evaluate targeted interventions to decrease this risk.

Cohort Studies↗
PubMed1995

Factors associated with low body mass index and weight loss in nursing home residents.

BACKGROUND: Undernutrition in nursing home residents is a significant and possibly modifiable public health problem. We evaluated the hypothesis that some potentially modifiable factors are associated with resident undernutrition. METHODS: This study is a cross-sectional, secondary data analysis of 6,832 community nursing home residents sampled from 202 nursing homes in 7 states. Data were from the Minimum Data Set (MDS), and HCFA-mandated resident assessment instrument used in U.S. community nursing homes. Two dependent variables represented undernutrition: (a) low body mass index (BMI), defined as the lowest quartile BMI of the sample (19.42 kg/m2 and below); and (b) weight loss, an MDS measure defined as 5% decrease in weight in 30 days, or a 10% decrease in 180 days (9.9% of the sample). Independent variables included resident demographics, eating-related variables, variables measuring functional, cognitive, and affective statuses, and medical conditions. Separate logistic regression models were estimated for low BMI and weight loss to test multivariate associations. RESULTS: Poor oral intake, eating dependency, decubiti, and chewing problems increase the likelihood of both low BMI and weight loss. Female gender, age 85 or older, bedfast, and hip fracture increase the odds of low BMI only; depressed behaviors and two or more chronic diseases increase the odds of weight loss only. CONCLUSION: Undernutrition in nursing home residents is a multifactorial syndrome. Improved oral feeding methods and treatment of depression are potentially important ways to counteract undernutrition in nursing home residents by targeting reversible features.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1995

Predictors of nursing home residents' participation in activity programs.

Nursing homes are mandated by the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (OBRA) to provide activity programs (U.S. Congress, 1987). Little information exists, however, as to residents' participation in activity programs. Using data from a Health Care Financing Administration project, the present study examines the relationship between resident characteristics and time participating in activities. Among 2,672 nursing home residents we found measures of resource use, cognitive abilities, depression, sense of initiative/involvement, activity repertoire, location preferences, and gender all to be significant in explaining the amount of activity time.

Aged↗
PubMed1995

Reliability estimates for the Minimum Data Set for nursing home resident assessment and care screening (MDS).

The MDS is a core set of items, definitions, and response categories used to assess all of the nation's 1.5 million nursing home residents who reside in facilities participating in the Medicare or Medicaid programs. Further, the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) has proposed a rule that would require facilities to computerize MDS data and submit it to state and federal agencies, paving the way for a national database. This article describes the process of testing the reliability of the MDS items in 13 nursing homes in five states. The results demonstrate that MDS data gathered in a research effort attain reliabilities that make such data useful. MDS items met a standard for excellent reliability (i.e., intraclass correlation of .7 or higher) in key areas of functional status, such as cognition, ADLs, continence, and diagnoses. Sixty-three percent of the items achieved reliability coefficients of .6 or higher. Eighty-nine percent of the items in the MDS achieved .4 or higher.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1995

Resource use on Alzheimer's special care units.

A multistate nursing home data base was used to compare resource use by residents on Alzheimer's Special Care Units (SCUs) and on other nursing home units. Overall, staff time expended per resident was less on SCUs. However, facilities with an SCU used considerably more staff time than facilities without. Unexpectedly, after accounting for case mix, SCU residents actually used the same amount of resources as other residents in facilities with an SCU. SCUs appear to be an attractive alternative for caring for demented nursing home residents. In assessing their cost effectiveness, appropriate comparison groups will be crucial.

Alzheimer Disease↗
PubMed1994

MDS Cognitive Performance Scale.

BACKGROUND: Chronic cognitive impairment is a major problem in U.S. nursing homes, yet traditional assessment systems in most facilities included only limited information on cognitive status. Following the Congressional mandate in the Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 1987 (OBRA '87), U.S. nursing homes now complete the Minimum Data Set (MDS), a standardized, comprehensive assessment of each resident's functional, medical, psychosocial, and cognitive status. We designed a Cognitive Performance Scale (CPS) that uses MDS data to assign residents into easily understood cognitive performance categories. METHODS: Information was drawn from three data sets, including two multistate data sets constructed for the Health Care Financing Administration. The prevalence and reliability of the MDS cognitive performance variables were established when assessed by trained nursing personnel. Five selected MDS items were combined to create the single, functionally meaningful seven-category hierarchical Cognitive Performance Scale. RESULTS: The CPS scale corresponded closely with scores generated by the Mini-Mental State Examination and the Test for Severe Impairment, nursing judgments of disorientation, and neurological diagnoses of Alzheimer's disease and other dementias. CONCLUSIONS: The new CPS provides a functional view of cognitive performance, using readily available MDS data. It should prove useful to clinicians and investigators using the MDS to determine a resident's cognitive assets.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1994

Applying RUG-III in Japanese long-term care facilities.

A U.S. nursing home case-mix system, Resource Utilization Group, Version III (RUG-III), was tested in a variety of Japanese long-term care facilities. Staff time and resident characteristics were measured for a sample of 871 patients. Acceptable reliability was found for items defining RUG-III, and the system explained 44% of the variance in wage-weighted staff time (cost). Also, Japanese and U.S. costs had similar patterns across RUG-III categories. However, there was wide discrepancy between the stated purpose of Japanese facilities and their patient populations, and the current payment mechanism did not reflect actual use of resources.

Aged↗
PubMed1994

Refining a case-mix measure for nursing homes: Resource Utilization Groups (RUG-III).

A case-mix classification system for nursing home residents is developed, based on a sample of 7,658 residents in seven states. Data included a broad assessment of resident characteristics, corresponding to items of the Minimum Data Set, and detailed measurement of nursing staff care time over a 24-hour period and therapy staff time over a 1-week period. The Resource Utilization Groups, Version III (RUG-III) system, with 44 distinct groups, achieves 55.5% variance explanation of total (nursing and therapy) per diem cost and meets goals of clinical validity and payment incentives. The mean resource use (case-mix index) of groups spans a nine-fold range. The RUG-III system improves on an earlier version not only by increasing the variance explanation (from 43%), but, more importantly, by identifying residents with "high tech" procedures (e.g., ventilators, respirators, and parenteral feeding) and those with cognitive impairments; by using better multiple activities of daily living; and by providing explicit qualifications for the Medicare nursing home benefit. RUG-III is being implemented for nursing home payment in 11 states (six as part of a federal multistate demonstration) and can be used in management, staffing level determination, and quality assurance.

Costs and Cost Analysis↗