Inpatient rehabilitation: The correlation between functional gains and appropriateness of admissions

There is potential for significant subjectivity in decisions regarding admission to inpatient rehabilitation programs. By adding more decision makers, some effects of bias may be overcome. A multidisciplinary review process was therefore used to evaluate the appropriateness of 70 consecutive rehabilitation discharges. By comparing Functional Independence Measure (FIM) scores between appropriate and inappropriate groups, strong correlation between appropriateness of admission and functional gains was observed. The most appropriate patients to select for admission appear to be those that still have considerable gains to make and have good potential to return to community living.