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Parts of the FIM
The FIM is divided into six major categories, with various tasks in each category that are assessed. These categories focus on various functional mobility tasks that you may encounter throughout your day. The categories and sub-categories are as follows.
Self-Care
Sphincter Control
Mobility
Locomotion
Communication
Social Cognition
Scoring
A complete list of scores for the FIM is as follows:
Using an outcome tool like the FIM is important for many reasons. First, understanding your current level of safety and functional mobility can help you and your PTset reasonable and attainable rehab goals. Second, your FIM score can be used to measure your personal progress through physical therapy.
As you improve your functional mobility, your FIM score will improve. This also helps your PT gauge your progress and justifies what your PT is doing with you in therapy. Your PT may also use your FIM score while working with other rehab providers like occupational therapists and speech-language pathologists.
Your physical therapist may also use your FIM score to assess your overall safety with mobility.The more assistance you need with a task, the lower your FIM score will be. Your PT can then use that score to assess your overall safety with moving around and functional mobility.
A Word From Verywell
If you are ever hospitalized, your healthcare team will likely use an outcome measurement tool to chart your progress and to determine your functional mobility and self-care independence. The FIM may be one tool that is used to help your physical therapist and other professionals determine your improvement during your episode of care. This outcome measurement can also give you a motivating morale boost—as your FIM score improves, you know that your overall mobility and functional are also improving. Be sure to ask your PT about the Functional Independence Measure and how it may be used in your own personal rehab journey.
4 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
Physiopedia.Functional independence measure (FIM).
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.IRF-PAI training manual. Revised January 16, 2002.
Uniform Data System for Medical Rehabilitation.The functional assessment specialists.
Muakkassa, Farid F .Effect of Hospital Length of Stay on Functional Independence Measure Score in Trauma Patients.American Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation: August 2016; 95( 8): 597–607. doi: 10.1097/PHM.0000000000000453
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