University of Rochester Acute Care Evaluation: Development of a New Functional Outcome Measure for the Acute Care Setting

The Physical Therapy Department at the University of Rochester determined a need for a functional outcome measure to be used in the acute care setting because current outcome measures in practice do not quantify the lower level function often found in this setting. After reviewing the literature, the John's Hopkins Hospital Functional Acute Care Score (or JHH-FACS) was chosen to be trialed and did not adequately quantify the functional abilities of our patient population. The tool was modified after a trial use period and survey of staff members to create a new tool. We describe the steps taken to create the outcome measure, called the University of Rochester Acute Care Evaluation (or URACE), that objectively assesses an individual's function while in the acute care setting.