Geriatric occupational therapy home assessment: report template

For elderly people, assessment in their living environment changes everything: it is at home that real difficulties and ways to support independence are revealed. The assessment objectively documents functional abilities, fall risk, and needs for assistive devices.

This page details its structure and offers a template. Detailed home adaptation recommendations are covered on a dedicated page; this assessment is, in most cases, the starting point.

Why assess at home

An in-office assessment does not capture the essentials: steps, thresholds, bathroom, heights, space to move around, lighting. At home, the occupational therapist observes the person in real-life situations of activities, making the analysis accurate and the recommendations applicable.

What the geriatric assessment explores

• Activities of daily living (ADLs): bathing, dressing, transfers, meals, continence.
• Instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs): meal preparation, housework, shopping, management, outdoor mobility.
• Abilities: mobility, balance, grip, functional cognition, fatigability.
• Fall risk: intrinsic and environmental factors.
• Environment: home layout, obstacles, assistive devices already present.
• Caregivers: presence, burden, expectations.

The structure of the report

1. Identification and reason. Person, prescriber, context, objective (ageing in place, fall prevention, etc.).
2. Clinical history. History, treatments, background, lifestyle habits.
3. In-situation observation. Performance of ADLs/IADLs, balance, transfers.
4. Abilities and limitations. Documented through real-life scenarios and adapted tools.
5. Home analysis. Areas requiring attention room by room.
6. Summary and recommendations. Assistive devices, adaptations, referral; redirection to the home adaptation recommendations document if work is planned.
7. Follow-up. Reassessment and coordination with caregivers and partners.

From assessment to funding

Caution and scope

The occupational therapist works on prescription and stays within their scope: they describe abilities, an environment, and recommendations, without encroaching on the medical diagnosis. The report is kept in the patient file.

Save time on your assessments

A home assessment generates many observations to structure. The winning approach: start from a fixed template, standardise the sections, and write while the visit is fresh.

This is what Delta allows: you capture your observations through live note-taking or post-visit dictation, and the tool generates a structured report according to your template, with longitudinal patient memory from one assessment to another. HDS hosting, GDPR compliant.

Frequently asked questions