USE OF COOP CHARTS IN THE DAY HOSPITAL

The day hospital is an essential component of health service provision for the elderly. Demonstrating out-come improvement has not been unif ormly successful. COOP charts have been validated in general practice as a tool to demonstrate improvement in functional activity. Therefore the aim of this study was to examine the usefulness of the COOP syste m in measuring change to a rehabilitation program in an elderly care d ay hospital. Thirty elderly patients (F/M: 24/6 with age range 75-91 y ears) attending the day hospital for rehabilitation for musculoskeleta l (25) or neurological (5) problems were asked to complete COOP charts during the first or second attendance and after treatment had been co mpleted. A fall in COOP score indicates improvement. The total COOP sc ore improved from 27.9 +/- 4.3 to 22.5 +/- 4.0 (C.I. = 3.8-6.9; t valu e = 7.2; P < 0.0001). Significant improvement was documented in 7 out of 9 individual areas of function/aspects of daily living. The results show that COOP charts, which are easy to administer, may be useful in monitoring change in elderly patients attending day hospital for reha bilitation. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved .