Mobility Decline Prevention
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Modules - Mobility Decline Prevention
Does an Exercise and Incontinence Intervention Save Healthcare Costs in a Nursing Home Population?
John F. Schnelle, Kanika Kapur, Cathy Alessi, Dan Osterweil, John C. Beck, Nahla R. Al-Samarrai, and Joseph G. Ouslander, 2003, in Journal of the American Geriatrics Society; 51:161-168.
The short answer to the question posed in this randomized, controlled trial is no. Although the intervention, which combines low-intensity exercise with frequent incontinence care, improved functional outcomes for the 98 intervention subjects, it did not reduce the incidence and costs of selected acute health conditions. Thus, the authors conclude, the costs of implementing this labor-intensive intervention would not be off-set by reduced medical care costs. A previous paper reported that a ratio of five residents to one nurse aide would be necessary to implement the intervention and that more than 90% of the nation's nursing homes would have to significantly increase staffing to do so. For the study, intervention subjects received low-intensity, functionally oriented exercises and incontinence care every two hours during the day, five days a week for eight months. A control group of 92 residents received usual care.
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