Sources of "Unreliability" in Multidisciplinary Team Assessment of the Elderly

Abstract

Assessment offunctional abilities is a key problem in providing and evaluating long-term health care for the elderly. This study examines reliability issues involved in these measurements performed by a multidisciplinary service team within a geriatric care program. Rater agreement is found to be affected by measurement constraints in the service delivery setting, work roles, and value differences among staff. Target areas for improving standardization of data collection by service providers are indicated.