Evaluation of patient-centered rehabilitation model targeting older persons with a hip fracture, including those with cognitive impairment

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to evaluate outcomes for older persons post-hip fracture repair, including those with cognitive impairment (CI), following implementation of a novel model of care – the Patient-Centered Rehabilitation Model including persons with CI (PCRM-CI). The PCRM-CI is an interdisciplinary rehabilitation program that incorporates education for healthcare professionals (HCPs), including nurses, which is focused on geriatric care including management of dementia and delirium, support for HCPs from an Advanced Practice Nurse, and family support and education. Primary outcome measures were mobility gain from admission to discharge and whether or not patients returned home post-discharge. METHODS: The PCRM-CI intervention was evaluated using a quasi-experimental design, following implementation in two community hospital inpatient rehabilitation units. One hundred forty-nine patients aged 65 and older participated as patients in the usual care (76) or PCRM-CI intervention (73) groups. Patient mobility was assessed at admission and discharge by the Functional Independence Measure Motor Subscale (FIMM); the difference in mobility scores was defined as mobility gain. Patient discharge location was also captured to determine whether or not patients returned home from inpatient rehabilitation. RESULTS: No difference in mobility gain was found between the usual care and PCRM-CI groups as measured by the FIMM. Patients in the intervention group were more likely to return home post-discharge than those in the usual care group (p = 0.02). CONCLUSIONS: Results of the PCRM-CI evaluation suggest that older adults with CI can successfully be rehabilitated post-hip fracture repair using this novel, interdisciplinary rehabilitation program. TRIAL REGISTRATION: This trial has been registered with the US National Institutes of Health (ID: NCT01566136)