Implementing Geriatric Frailty Screening in Acute Care

Practice Problem: Frailty is a syndrome of age-related physiologic decline characterized by an increased burden of symptoms and higher susceptibility to adverse health, including higher functional decline rates, pressure ulcers, falls, and delirium. In the general medicine unit of this project, geriatric patients were not screened for frailty. PICOT: The PICOT question that guided this project was: In hospitalized patients 65-years-of-age and older (P), how does implementing a geriatric frailty screening tool (I), compared to standard assessments (C), influence frailty identification and personalized plans of care (O) over eight weeks (T)? Evidence: Literature supports screening for frailty in the hospitalized geriatric population. Intervention: For eight weeks, a group of four RN clinicians piloted the CFS and collected data on patient appropriateness for screening, completion of screening, CFS scores, and influence of CFS scoring on personalized patient care plans. Outcome: Statistical analysis results suggest that completing the CFS and adjusting the individualized plan of care were related to one another. Conclusion: Applying best practices to identify frailty during hospitalization demonstrated a measurable influence on health promotion in acutely ill geriatric patients