Development of a questionnaire to assess clinician perspectives of the usefulness of the functional independence measure and cognitive screening tests.

Objective A pilot questionnaire was developed to investigate the cognitive tests that clinicians employ in their clinical practice and whether they perceive the Functional Independence Measure (FIM) to add clinical value. Methods A 10-item pilot questionnaire was created and distributed to 43 health professionals of a single health service in Australia. A snowballing approach to sampling was used. Results There were 39 respondents. Less than half of respondents thought the FIM added clinical value, and 15% stated that they would use the FIM to assess cognition on subacute wards. Ninety-seven per cent (97%) of respondents stated that they would rely more heavily on cognitive screening tests than the FIM. Conclusion Participant responses to this survey of a single health service raise interesting questions about how useful clinicians perceive the FIM to be, beyond a costing and benchmarking role. Clinicians may prefer cognitive screening tests to the FIM, in clinical practice.