Outcomes of wheelchair systems intervention with residents of long-term care facilities.

This pilot study was designed to measure the effects of individually prescribed wheelchair systems on posture and reach, mobility, quality of life, and satisfaction with technology for residents of long-term care facilities. Thirty persons 60 years of age or older who resided permanently in a long-term care facility and who used seating and mobility systems for 6 hours or more each day were recruited for this project. Outcomes included timed independent mobility, forward and lateral reach, quality of life, and satisfaction with assistive technology.

Wheelchair seating: a state of the science report.

Regardless of the field, agenda-setting processes are integral to establishing research and development priorities. Beginning in 1998, the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research mandated that each newly funded Rehabilitation Engineering and Research Center (RERC) hold a state-of-the-science consensus forum during the third year of its 5-year funding cycle. NIDRR's aim in formalizing this agenda-setting process was to facilitate the formulation of future research and development priorities for each respective RERC.

A randomized control trial to evaluate pressure-reducing seat cushions for elderly wheelchair users.

Objective: To determine if the use of pressure-reducing wheelchair cushions for elderly nursing home resident wheelchair users who are at high risk for developing sitting-acquired pressure ulcers would result in a lower incidence rate of pressure ulcers, a greater number of days until ulceration, and lower peak interface pressures compared with the use of convoluted foam cushions over a 12-month period. To determine the feasibility of conducting a subsequent full-scale definitive trial to evaluate the use of pressure-reducing seat cushions for elderly nursing home resident wheelchair users.

Design: Randomized control trial

Setting: 2200-bed skilled nursing facilities (1 suburban and 1 urban academic medical center)

Patients: 32 male and female at-risk nursing home residents who were wheelchair users > or = 65 years of age.

Development and consumer validation of the Functional Evaluation in a Wheelchair (FEW) instrument.

Purpose: The purpose of the study is to develop an outcome measurement tool to investigate functional performance of consumers using seating and wheelchair systems as their primary seating and mobility device. The instrument is undergoing systematic development in three phases. The results of Phase 1 will be reported.

The relationship between pressure ulcer incidence and buttock-seat cushion interface pressure in at-risk elderly wheelchair users.

Objective: To investigate the relation between pressure ulcer incidence and buttock-wheelchair seat cushion interface pressure measurements.

Design: Secondary analysis of data from a randomized clinical trial.

Setting: Skilled nursing facility.