title: Standardized Assessment for Elderly People (SAFE)--a feasibility study in district nursing.
abstract: Current policy requires systematic and comprehensive assessment of elderly people. Few standardized tools exist for assessment. This paper is in two parts. First it reports on the SAFE assessment measures agreed by a multidisciplinary working party initiated by the Royal College of Physicians and the British Geriatrics Society in 1992. The second part reports the findings of a feasibility study of SAFE in district nursing practice. The outcomes examined were the proportion of patients with completed assessments, the time taken to carry out the assessments, acceptability to the patient, carer and district nurse, and the training required. The findings show that SAFE is a practical and acceptable set of instruments in the assessment of elderly people by district nurses, but that further refinement is desirable.
authors.forename: F M
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Ross
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bower
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006801:Humans; D009730:Nursing Assessment; D015403:Nursing Evaluation Research; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D011637:Public Health Nursing / Q000379:methods*