Educating Health Care Providers on Driving Competence

描述（由申请人提供）：许多老年人的感觉和认知功能下降，这可能导致日常活动困难增加。对于保持独立性至关重要的一项日常活动就是开车。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，行动能力丧失常常导致需要正规护理。因此，扩大安全出行的有效方法可能会产生深远的影响。拟议研究的重点是评估一项干预计划的可行性，该计划旨在教育医疗保健提供者了解老年驾驶员保持驾驶能力所需的功能能力。该干预措施还将教育他们有关治疗计划的知识，以提高老年患者的驾驶技能。第一阶段申请旨在召集一个指导委员会来最终确定该计划的内容，评估满足该领域医疗保健提供者需求的可行性，并试点测试在医疗保健环境中使用的简短筛查计划。该计划将为向医疗保健界传播有关老年驾驶员的信息提供一种低成本且便捷的方式，并可能使经历功能衰退的老年人受益。 拟议的商业应用： 该产品最终将提供给所有可能需要评估老年人驾驶能力的医疗保健提供者。

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.