Association of Admission Functional Status and Assistive Device Provision for Veterans Poststroke: A Retrospective...

The aims of the study were (a) to provide knowledge about the provision of assistive devices in practice and (b) to describe the challenges of standardizing device provision.

This is a retrospective study using Department of Veteran Affairs National Prosthetic Patient Database and other administrative databases. The cohort included all veterans treated by the Veterans Health Administration for stroke during fiscal years 2007-2008. Descriptive methods were used to analyze data with emphasis on inspecting relationships between device provision and motor and cognitive function using Functional Independence Measure scores.

A total of 8374 veterans treated for stroke and receiving at least one assistive device are included. Individuals who received standard or caregiver controlled wheelchairs tended to be older, and those who received ultralight or caregiver controlled wheelchairs had a higher proportion of Hispanics than the overall cohort. Veterans who received any type of wheelchair had lower motor, cognitive, and total functioning scores than the cohort as a whole. Veterans who received canes had the highest functioning. Veteran patients who received patient lifts and beds had lower cognitive scores compared with the overall cohort.

Functional status can provide some objectivity to the largely subjective assistive device provision decision-making process; however, many other factors must be considered simultaneously, complicating efforts to standardize provision.