A systematic review evaluating the use of the interRAI home care instrument in research for older people

ABSTRACTObjective: To summarise studies that used the international Resident Assessment home care (interRAI HC) instrument to examine study outcomes for older people.Methods: A comprehensive systematic search was performed to identify relevant studies, using 5 databases from 1990 until October 2016. The Cochrane Risk-Bias assessment tool and Newcastle-Ottawa Scale was used to assess the quality of RCTs and non-RCTs respectively.Results: Based on the full-text analysis, 40-studies met the inclusion criteria out of 506 total records. The review included 6-RCTs, 2-quasi-experimental, 17-prospective and retrospective studies, 13-cross-sectional and 2-longitudinal studies. A series of interventions and/or applications were identified from this review that employed the use of interRAI HC instrument: (a) in health services, (b) as a new integrated care model and for implementing machine learning algorithm, (c) as a comprehensive geriatric assessment tool, (d) in case management, (e) for care-planning and screening, (f) in drug therapy assessment, (g) to assess caregiver burden, and (h) for various risk assessments. Studies that employed the interRAI HC instrument reported an array of health-outcome measures mostly related to functional, cognition, hospitalisation and mortality.Conclusions: Application of the interRAI HC tool varied markedly across all studies, and the outcomes measures were heterogeneous. Future research directions are discussed.Clinical Implications: The results from this study facilitate the use of interRAI HC as an intervention tool leads to improvements in specific geriatric-related health outcome measures emphasises on functional status and quality of life and ascertain its utility as a quality indicator for the care of older individuals.

https://doi.org/10.1080/07317115.2018.1447525