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Biomedical subjects

Bonnie L Callen

Publications and source records attributed to Bonnie L Callen.

6 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2004

Admission and discharge mobility of frail hospitalized older adults.

Functional decline during hospitalization is an important clinical problem with potential longlasting undesirable outcomes in frail elders. However, little is known about the change in mobility during hospitalization and the association with discharge status. A Mobility Classification Tool has been developed that categorizes progression of patients' in-hospital mobility using a 5-point scale. The validity and clinical usefulness of this tool was evaluated in a sample of 60 frail older adults hospitalized for medical illness. The tool allows nurses to assess, quantify, and communicate mobility levels and changes in mobility more accurately.

Academic Medical Centers↗
PubMed2003

Views of community-dwelling, old-old people on barriers and aids to nutritional health.

PURPOSE: To examine barriers and aids to maintaining the nutritional health of community-dwelling old-old residents from their perspectives. DESIGN: Cross-sectional exploratory study completed in March 2002 of old-old people living independently in one county in the Midwestern United States (US). METHODS: Sixty-eight in-home interviews were conducted with community-dwelling people aged 80 or older. Content analysis was done to examine answers to two open-ended questions about barriers and helps to nutritional health. FINDINGS: These old-old people believed they were doing well nutritionally despite reduced independence and physical limitations. They were positive about their lives and creative in problem solving to remain independent. Social connectedness was the major factor for maintaining independence into old age. The leading barrier to maintaining nutritional health was health problems. Those with more barriers were more likely to be depressed. CONCLUSIONS: Knowledge of aids and barriers to nutritional health, from a personal perspective, gives an understanding of the issues and concerns of old-old people.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Frequency of hallway ambulation by hospitalized older adults on medical units of an academic hospital.

Lack of activity during hospitalization may contribute to functional decline. The purpose of this study was to determine the frequency of hallway walking by older adults hospitalized for medical illness. The study was an observational time-sampled study, which was conducted in the hallways of 3 medical units of a 485-bed academic health care center. Each unit was observed weekdays for eight 3-hour intervals covering 8 AM to 8 PM. Before each observation, nursing staff were questioned about walking abilities of patients aged <or=55 years. During observation, frequency and minutes of patients' hallway ambulation were recorded. Of 118 patients considered by nurses as able to walk in the hallways, 18.6% walked once, 5.1% twice, 3.4% more than twice, and 72.9% did not walk at all per 3-hour period. The median minutes for ambulation was 5.5. Frequency of ambulation was as low for patients independent in walking as for those dependent (28% vs 26%, P=.507). Of the 32 patients who walked in the hallways, most did so alone (46.8%, n=15) or with therapy staff (41%, n=13); few walked with nursing staff (9.4%, n=3) or family (18.8%, n=6). In this setting, hallway walking was very low for hospitalized older patients. If this trend of limited walking is found to be prevalent across other settings, then both independent and dependent patients will require additional interventions to improve ambulation during hospitalization.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Screening for nutritional risk in community-dwelling old-old.

Screening tools for detecting declining nutrition in community-dwelling old-old are few and problematic. The purpose of this study was to identify the leading risk factors associated with noninvasive measures of poor nutritional status among elders aged 80 or older still living independently in the community. This cross-sectional descriptive study included 68 community-dwelling old-old (average age 85.7). Participants were recruited by parish nurses. In-home interviews were conducted. Relationships between five well-established measures of nutritional risk factors and two measures of nutritional status, body mass index (BMI) categories, and unintentional weight loss were examined. Depression and the food pyramid groups with adequate amounts eaten were predictive of unintentional weight loss in the previous 6 months (p = 0.013) but not of high or low BMI. In this sample, 25% were obese. Screening for depression and food intake may be useful in predicting nutritional decline among community-dwelling old-old and point to targeted interventions in a population who are large users of health care dollars.

Aged↗