COMPUTER-ASSISTED FUNCTIONAL ASSESSMENT AND DOCUMENTATION

Occupational therapy personnel spend considerable time on functional a ssessment and documentation. The rapid and error-free information proc essing ability of computers offers methods for data collection, clinic al decision making, and reporting of functional assessment results, wh ich may be more effective and efficient than the current paper-and-pen cil methods. Computers can provide assistance throughout the many step s of the functional assessment and reporting process. Software is avai lable to assist in direct data collection, data reduction, and analysi s, or to assess complex data systems and databases. Additionally, comp uters can use assessment techniques, such as dynamic question sets and expert systems, which have not been possible with paper-and-pencil me thods. Furthermore, data collected on computers are readily available to be integrated in computer-assisted report writing and can be compil ed into large databases for analysis These databases can be used for p rogram evaluation, continuous quality improvement exercises, and other research objectives. This paper provides a snapshot of these computer uses in the assessment process.