ahrq-gov/archive.ahrq.gov/research/oct02/1002RA19.htm
2025-02-28 14:14:25 -05:00

151 lines
No EOL
11 KiB
HTML

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
<title>Research Activities, October 2002: Health Care Delivery: Nurses may need to update their skills in assessing the medical status of nursing home residents
</title>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" />
<!-- "metadata" -->
<meta name="Title" content="About Research Activities, October 2002" />
<meta name="keywords" content="Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, AHRQ, AHCPR, AIDS/HIV, ambulatory care, benchmark, child, cost, elderly, health cost, healthcare cost, hospital, long-term care, managed care, markets, mental health, methodology, minority health, nursing, nursing homes, outcome research, out-of-pocket spending, patient care, primary, primary care, research, rural, spending, study, Translating Research Into Practice, TRIP" />
<meta name="description" content="Online newsletter summarizing published findings from AHRQ-funded studies, new AHRQ publications and products, and funding opportunities." />
<meta name="creator" content="Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)" />
<meta name="datecreated" content="October 2002" />
<meta name="datereviewed" content="October 2002" />
<meta name="language" content="English" />
<!-- end metadata -->
<link href="/includes/archive.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />
<link href="/includes/ahrqstyleprint_arch.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="print" />
<script>
(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i['GoogleAnalyticsObject']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){
(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),
m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)
})(window,document,'script','//www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js','ga');
ga('create', 'UA-75759936-1', 'auto');
ga(' set', 'anonymizeIp', true);
ga('send', 'pageview');
</script></head><body><!-- Google Tag Manager -->
<noscript><iframe src="//www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-W4DST4"
height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden"></iframe></noscript>
<script>(function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':
new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],
j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src=
'//www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);
})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-W4DST4');</script>
<!-- End Google Tag Manager -->
<noscript>
Your browser doesn't support JavaScript. Please upgrade to a modern browser or enable JavaScript in your existing browser.
</noscript>
<!-- Page Header v2.0 -->
<a name="top" id="top"></a>
<!--Begin Banner CodeS-->
<div id="ahrqbanner">
<div class="hhsportion">
<a href="#h1" class="skipnav">Skip Navigation</a>
<a href="http://www.hhs.gov" title="U.S. Department of Health and Human Services">
<img src="/images/hhs_banner.gif" alt="U.S. Department of Health and Human Services" />
</a>
<a href="http://www.hhs.gov" title="www.hhs.gov" class="hhsright">
<img src="/images/hhs_link.gif" alt="www.hhs.gov" />
</a>
</div>
<div class="ahrqportion">
<a href="/" title="Archive: Agency for Healthcare Research Quality">
<img src="/images/ahrq_banner.gif" alt="Agency for Healthcare Research Quality" />
</a><form name="searchForm" method="get" action="https://search.ahrq.gov/search" id="banner_searchform">
<label for="search" style="z-index:-1;position:relative;margin-right:-65px; font-size:0px;">Search</label>
<input name="q" type="text" value=" Search Archive" size="11" onfocus="this.value='';" class="gotext" label="Search archive" id="search" />
<input type="hidden" name="entqr" value="0" />
<input type="hidden" name="output" value="xml_no_dtd" />
<input type="hidden" name="proxystylesheet" value="ARCHIVE_Front_End" />
<input type="hidden" name="client" value="ARCHIVE_Front_End" />
<input type="hidden" name="site" value="ARCHIVE_AHRQ_GOV" />
<input src="/images/topbn_GoButton.gif" class="gobtn" name="Submit" onclick="javascript:document.searchForm.submit();" type="image" alt="Search" />
</form>
<a href="https://www.ahrq.gov/" class="ahrqright">www.ahrq.gov</a>
</div><div class="ahrqlinks"><a href="https://www.ahrq.gov/">AHRQ Home&#8212;Live Site</a> | <a href="/">Archive Home</a> | <a href="/sitemap.htm">Site Map</a> <!-- | &nbsp;<img src="/images/envelope1.jpg" alt="" width="21" height="14" /><a href="https://subscriptions.ahrq.gov/service/multi_subscribe.html?code=USAHRQ">E-mail Updates</a> --></div>
</div>
<div id="PrintBanner">
<img src="/images/printbanner_arch.jpg" alt="Archive print banner" />
</div>
<a name="h1"></a>
<!-- End banner code -->
<!-- End of Page header -->
<!-- Content Body -->
<div id="mainContent">
<table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" >
<tr valign="top">
<td width="70%">
<!-- Center Content section -->
<table width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="margin-left:10px; margin-right:10px;margin-top:5px" summary="This table gives the layout format of the bread crumb area and the center content area.">
<!--DWLayoutTable-->
<tr>
<td class="crumb_link"><div id="crumbContent">
<p><strong>You Are Here:</strong> <span class="crumb_link"><a href="/" class="crumb_link">AHRQ Archive Home</a> &gt; <a href="/research/resarch.htm" class="crumb_link"><em>Research Activities</em> Archive</a> &gt; <a href="." class="crumb_link">October 2002</a> </span></p>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><h1><a name="h1" id="h1"></a>Health Care Delivery </h1>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><div id="centerContent"><div class="headnote">
<p>This information is for reference purposes only. It was current when produced and may now be outdated. Archive material is no longer maintained, and some links may not work. Persons with disabilities having difficulty accessing this information should contact us at: <a href="https://info.ahrq.gov/">https://info.ahrq.gov</a>. Let us know the nature of the problem, the Web address of what you want, and your contact information. </p>
<p>Please go to <a href="https://www.ahrq.gov/">www.ahrq.gov</a> for current information.</p></div>
<h2><a name="head4">Nurses may need to update their skills in assessing the medical status of nursing home residents</a></h2>
<p>A nurse's quick assessment of an acute change in the condition of a nursing home resident, for example, development of breathing problems or a fever, can make the difference between a mild illness and a serious decline in health, or between a quick recovery with simple treatment and hospitalization and prolonged recovery. Although patient assessment and documentation are basic nursing practices, they are not always performed by nurses called on to assess the status of nursing home residents, according to a study supported in part by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (HS08551).</p>
<p>If a resident develops an acute change in his or her condition&#8212;for example, difficulty breathing or an abrupt change in mental status or mobility&#8212;it is the responsibility of the nurse to perform and document an assessment. This assessment includes, but is not limited to, measurement of vital signs (temperature, pulse, and respiration) and examination of body systems, and it is supposed to be documented as a retrievable record of nursing care. </p>
<p>Missouri researchers evaluated the prevalence of vital sign assessments of 4,959 residents who developed symptoms of acute illness in 36 urban and rural nursing homes over a period of 38 months. They also evaluated the prevalence of body system assessments performed by nurses in a convenience sample of 289 residents at 12 nursing homes that participated in the larger study. Overall, 31 percent of residents did not have any vital sign assessments performed at the time of an acute change in condition, and only 36 percent had a complete set of vital signs taken (excluding blood pressure). About half (52 percent) of residents identified by the nursing home staff as acutely ill received some type of nursing physical assessment. Nurses documented 88 percent of lung assessments and 94 percent of body system assessments.</p>
<p>See "Nursing assessment of ill nursing home residents," by Cathy R. Barry, R.N., M.S.N., Kathy Brown, R.N., B.S.N., Debbie Esker, R.N., G.N.P., and others, in the May 2002 <em>Journal of Gerontological Nursing</em> 28(5), pp. 4-7. </p>
<p class="size2"><a href=".">Return to Contents</a><br />
<a href="1002RA20.htm">Proceed to Next Article</a></p>
<div class="footnote">
<p> The information on this page is archived and provided for reference purposes only.</p></div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<!-- End of Center Content section -->
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>
<!-- End of Content Body -->
<!-- Footer graphic 1.2-->
<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" width="100%">
<tr>
<td width="125" background="/images/bottom_ahrq_bkg.jpg"><img src="/images/bottom_ahrq_1.jpg" width="125" alt="AHRQ" /></td>
<td width="100%" background="/images/bottom_ahrq_bkg.jpg" ><img src="/images/bottom_ahrq_bkg.jpg" width="10" height="34" alt="" /></td>
<td width="310" background="/images/bottom_ahrq_bkg.jpg"><img src="/images/bottom_ahrq_2.gif" alt="Advancing Excellence in Health Care" width="310" height="34" /></td>
</tr>
</table>
<!-- Footer links section -->
<div id="banner_Footer2"><p> <a href="https://www.ahrq.gov/">AHRQ Home</a> | <a href="https://info.ahrq.gov" class="footer_navlink">Questions?</a> | <a href="https://www.ahrq.gov/contact/index.html" class="footer_navlink">Contact AHRQ</a> | <a href="https://www.ahrq.gov/sitemap.html" class="footer_navlink">Site Map</a> | <a href="https://www.ahrq.gov/policy/electronic/accessibility/index.html" class="footer_navlink">Accessibility</a> | <a href="https://www.ahrq.gov/policy/electronic/privacy/index.html" class="footer_navlink">Privacy
Policy</a> | <a href="https://www.ahrq.gov/policy/foia/index.html" class="footer_navlink">Freedom of Information Act</a> | <a href="https://www.ahrq.gov/policy/electronic/disclaimers/index.html" class="footer_navlink">Disclaimers</a> | <a href="http://www.hhs.gov/open/recordsandreports/plainwritingact/index.html" class="footer_navlink">Plain Writing Act</a> <br />
<a href="http://www.hhs.gov" class="footer_navlink">U.S. Department of Health &amp; Human Services</a> | <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov" class="footer_navlink">The White House</a> | <a href="http://www.usa.gov" class="footer_navlink">USA.gov: The U.S. Government's Official Web Portal</a></p>
</div>
<div id="banner_Footeraddress"><p>Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality <img src="/images/bottom_dot.gif" alt="" /> 5600 Fishers Lane Rockville, MD 20857 <img src="/images/bottom_dot.gif" alt="" /> Telephone: (301) 427-1364</p></div>
<!-- End of Footer links section -->
</body>
</html>