Ck. Kwoh et al., INTERRATER RELIABILITY FOR FUNCTION AND STRENGTH MEASUREMENTS IN THE ACUTE-CARE HOSPITAL AFTER ELECTIVE HIP AND KNEE ARTHROPLASTY, Arthritis care and research, 10(2), 1997, pp. 128-134
Objective. To determine the inter-rater reliability of function and st
rength measurements in patients undergoing elective hip and knee arthr
oplasty in an acute care setting. Method. Forty-four patients underwen
t either total hip or knee arthroplasty. Patients were rated by 4 occu
pational therapists and 7 physical therapists on their performance of
5 functional tasks: lower extremity dressing, toilet transfer, supine-
to-sit transfer, sit-to-stand transfer, and ambulation to 100 feet. St
rength measurements of the quadriceps femoris muscle were measured qua
ntitatively with a Microfet hand-held dynamometer. Data were analyzed
to determine inter-rater reliability using the Kappa statistic (K) for
the functional tasks and the intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC
) for the strength measurements. Results. A high level of infer-rater
reliability was achieved for lower extremity dressing, toilet transfer
, supine-to-sit transfer, sit-to-stand transfer, and ambulation to to
100 feet, as evidenced by K values between 0.75 and 0.99. Reliability
was also excellent for quantitative strength measurements using the dy
namometer, with an ICC of 0.94. Conclusion. This study demonstrated ex
cellent inter-rater reliability with measurements of function and stre
ngth post-operatively after elective hip and knee arthroplasty. The pr
actical implication is that by using a standardized measurement tool i
n the acute care setting, the treatment team can more reliably assess
patients' progress, which may aid clinical decision making.