Assessing older people – contemporary issues for nursing
Pauline Ford Director of the RCN Gerontological Nursing Programme
Tina Wills and Pauline Ford discuss the context in which nursing assessment takes place, review the literature and offer a person-centred framework for evaluating assessment tools
Contemporary policy places considerable importance on assessment (DoH 2000a,b), with an increasing focus on assessment of nursing needs (Challis et al 1996, RCN 1999a), alongside a growing desire among older people to know how their care needs are formulated (Help the Aged 1999). However, there is a confused approach to assessment with a wide range of interpretations of the concept of need, and the practice of needs assessment (Richards 1994, Ford and McCormack 1999). This article reviews the minimum data/resident assessment instrument (MDS/RAI) (Challis et al 1996) and the RCN Assessment Tool for Nursing Older People (RCN 1997a) in detail and draws conclusions.
Nursing Older People.
12, 9, 16-20.
doi: 10.7748/nop2000.12.12.9.16.c2163
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