Description of an intervention to improve hydration status of the nursing home resident

Abstract

Ten long-term care residents were enrolled in this research, in order to evaluate an intervention aimed at decreasing dehydration in the elderly. The five intervention subjects had their wheelchairs equipped with bottle holders where bottles filled with fresh water could be placed. The five other residents were made the control group. The residents were randomly assigned a groups. Over a one-week period all subjects had their total fluid intake recorded On four occasions each subject's oral mucosa was evaluated for indicators of dehydration. Urine was collected from all subjects before and after the intervention was initiated urine osmolality measured. No significant findings were obtained from evaluation of urine osmolality pre and post intervention. No significant findings were identified from the assessment of the oral mucosa. The intervention group had a significantly higher fluid intake as compared to the control group (P< .05). There were several limitations to this study as the sample size was too small to make true inferences. The descriptive data suggests future research is needed to further evaluate this intervention.