Centre for Policy on Ageing



Dementia and driving — a survey of clinical practice in aged care assessment teams
Author(s)	G K Fox, F Withaar, G M Bashford
Journal title	Australian Journal on Ageing, vol 15, no 3, 1996
Pages	pp 111-114
Keywords	Dementia ; Driving capability ; Screening ; Evaluation ; Australia.
Annotation	Current clinical practice in aged care assessment teams (ACATs) in NSW (New South Wales) and ACT (Australian Capital Territory) regarding assessment of fitness to drive in clients with a diagnosis of dementia was examined. Of 42 ACATs with a geriatrician on the staff, 38 responded to a telephone survey. Results showed that assessment of driver fitness is largely a medically based procedure, with functional on-road assessment of driver competence occurring in 42.1% of ACATs. Use of the Mini Mental Status Examination (MMSE) in determining the severity of dementia and impact to driving was common (94.7%), although such predictive ability has not been demonstrated. Few ACATs (36.8%) systematically review drivers, despite likely disease progression. 73.7% of ACATs reported experience of clients continuing to drive against advice. Approaches to assessment in city and rural ACATs are compared.
Accession Number	CPA-971014203 A
Classmark	EA: OPF: 3V: 4C: 7YA
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...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.