Assessment of Older Urban Drivers by Nurse Practitioners

Abstract

Thirty-five older urban adults who had forfeited a driver's license and 25 nurse practitioners (NPs) who provided health care to them participated in a qualitative study to (a) explore the perception of NPs regarding their role in assessing the driving abilities of older adults, (b) describe the ways in which NPs assist their clients to cope with the loss of a driver's license, and (c) delineate the NPs influence on the elders' decision to forfeit their license. Findings suggest that most NPs had concerns about their older clients' driving abilities. However, assessment of parameters related to driving safety was not their primary objective. An NPs recommendation to forfeit a license was important to the older driver's decision to do so. Assisting clients with the consequences of no longer driving was difficult for a variety of reasons.