Time of care required by patients discharged from a rehabilitation unit.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the amount of care (measured in time) required by patients discharged from an inpatient rehabilitation unit. DESIGN: A total of 103 consecutive patients discharged from an inpatient rehabilitation unit to home were contacted 1 mo after discharge and asked to report the amount of help that they required at home. Correlations were made between the time of help that the subjects reported needing and their age, sex, living situation, marital status, diagnosis, and the score on the FIM at the time of discharge from the rehabilitation unit. RESULTS: The score on the FIM correlated with the time of help reported by the patients. Linear regression analysis showed that each 5-point decrement in FIM score correlates with the need for about 1 hr per day of help with mobility, basic activities of daily living, and instrumental activities of daily living. CONCLUSIONS: The FIM can be used to provide an estimate of the amount of time it will take families to provide help for patients discharged from a rehabilitation unit.