Educating Health Care Providers on Driving Competence

描述（由申请人提供）：许多老年人经历感觉和认知功能下降，可能导致日常活动困难增加。一项对保持独立性至关重要的日常活动是开车。行动能力对于维持社会联系和令人满意的生活质量至关重要，而行动能力丧失往往导致需要正规护理。因此，扩大安全机动性的有效方法可能会产生深远的影响。本研究的重点是评估一项干预计划的可行性，该计划旨在教育卫生保健提供者有关老年司机维持其驾驶能力所需的功能能力。干预也会教育他们关于补救方案，以潜在地提高他们的老年病人的驾驶技能。第一阶段申请的目的是召集一个指导委员会，最终确定这样一个计划的内容，评估满足该地区卫生保健提供者需求的可行性，并对一个用于卫生保健机构的简短筛查计划进行试点测试。这个项目将提供一种低成本和方便的方式，向卫生保健社区传播有关老年司机的信息，并可能使经历功能衰退的老年人受益。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Many older adults experience declines in sensory and cognitive function that can result in increased difficulty with everyday activities. One everyday activity, which is crucial to maintaining independence, is driving. Mobility is critical for maintaining social contacts and a satisfying quality of life, and mobility loss frequently results in the need for formal care. Therefore, effective methods for extending safe mobility could have far-reaching consequences. The focus of the proposed research is to evaluate the feasibility of an intervention program designed to educate health care providers about the functional abilities older drivers need to maintain their driving competence. The intervention would also educate them about remedial programs to potentially boost the driving skills of their older patients. The Phase I application aims to convene a Steering Committee to finalize the content of such a program, to evaluate the feasibility of meeting the needs of health care providers in this area, and to pilot test a brief screening program for use in health care settings. This program would provide a low cost and convenient means for disseminating information on older drivers to the health care community, and would potentially benefit older individuals experiencing functional declines. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATION: This product would ultimately be made available to all health care providers who may need to assess older adults for driving competency.