Meera George, JD, Postgraduate Fellow, Houston Center for Quality of Care and Utilization Studies, Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center, Houston,TX, USA.
Aanand D. Naik,MD, Assistant Professor, Health Services Research and Geriatrics, Baylor College of Medicine; Houston Center for Quality of Care and Utilization Studies, Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center, Houston,TX, USA.
Many older adults have difficulty bathing.Those unable to bathe are more likely to need formal home care and to be admitted to long-term care than those who can bathe without help. Disability with bathing function is complex, involving multiple subtasks; inability to perform those subtasks has many attributable causes. Bathing disability can be remediated through timely diagnosis and prescription of appropriate assistive devices and adaptations to the home bathing environment. Clinicians have an important role in the diagnosis of bathing disability, and collaborative planning of bathing remediation with patients, caregivers, and allied health providers is key.
Keywords: activities of daily living, assessment, disability, assistive devices.
