Functional Assessment and Clinical Decision Making
Presented by Kenneth L. Miller
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Up to one-third of adults age 65 or older fall each year, and approximately 20% of those who fall sustain a serious injury. Additionally, depression rates approach 25% in the home care (Medicare age) older adult population which significantly increases the short-term risk of hospitalization in the geriatric home care population. This course will utilize case scenarios to provide a backdrop for using functional assessment tools with older adults to identify physical (strength and endurance), cognitive (depression/dementia/delirium) and mobility (balance and fall risk) impairments. The data gathered during the assessment and examination will be incorporated into clinical decision making to foster effective triaging and/or care planning.
Meet your instructor
Kenneth L. Miller
Dr. Kenneth Miller has been an educator, physical therapist, and consultant for the home health industry for more than 20 years and serves as a guest lecturer, adjunct teaching assistant, and adjunct professor in the DPT program at Touro College in Bay Shore, New York. He has presented at the Combined Sections Meeting of the…
Chapters & learning objectives
1. Functional Assessment Tools
This chapter will use patient scenarios to demonstrate how to select appropriate functional assessment tools to identify impairments related to physical, cognitive and/or mobility impairments. Functional assessment of falls risk, balance, strength, cognition and mobility will be provided.
2. Clinical Decision Making
This chapter will integrate the results of the functional assessment tools into clinical decision making and allow the clinician to formulate professional opinions based on the data obtained. Effectively triaging patient disposition is a key component of physical therapist practice and is explored here through the use of common scenarios seen with the older adult.
3. Care Planning
This chapter will provide for care plan development based on the functional assessment data. Determination of appropriate goals and interventions based on identified impairments will be demonstrated via patient scenarios in order to foster critical thinking skills and patient program development.