European Collaborative and Interprofessional Capability Framework for Prevention and Management of Frailty-a consensus process supported by the Joint Action for Frailty Prevention (ADVANTAGE) and the European Geriatric Medicine Society (EuGMS).

BACKGROUND: Interprofessional collaborative practice (ICP) is currently recommended for the delivery of high-quality integrated care for older people. Frailty prevention and management are key elements to be tackled on a multi-professional level. AIM: This study aims to develop a consensus-based European multi-professional capability framework for frailty prevention and management. METHODS: Using a modified Delphi technique, a consensus-based framework of knowledge, skills and attitudes for all professions involved in the care pathway of older people was developed within two consultation rounds. The template for the process was derived from competency frameworks collected in a comprehensive approach from EU-funded projects of the European Commission (EC) supported best practice models for health workforce development. RESULTS: The agreed framework consists of 25 items structured in 4 domains of capabilities. Content covers the understanding about frailty, skills for screening and assessment as well as management procedures for every profession involved. The majority of items focused on interprofessional collaboration, communication and person-centred care planning. DISCUSSION: This framework facilitates clarification of professionals' roles and standardizes procedures for cross-sectional care processes. Despite a lack of evidence for educational interventions, health workforce development remains an important aspect of quality assurance in health care systems. CONCLUSIONS: The multi-professional capability framework for frailty prevention and management incorporated interprofessional collaborative practice, consistent with current recommendations by the World Health Organization, Science Advice for Policy by European Academies and the European Commission.

Validation of orthopaedic surgeons' assessment of cognitive function in patients with acute hip fracture.

BACKGROUND: About one fourth of patients with hip fracture have cognitive impairment. These patients are at higher risk of surgical and medical complications and are often excluded from participating in clinical research. The aim of the present study was to investigate orthopaedic surgeons' ability to determine the cognitive status of patients with acute hip fracture and to compare the treatment given to patients with and without cognitive impairment. METHODS: The cognitive function of 1474 hip fracture patients reported by the orthopaedic surgeons to the nationwide Norwegian Hip Fracture Register was compared with data registered in quality databases in two hospitals with orthogeriatric service on the same patients. Cognitive function registered in the quality databases was determined either by the short form of the Informant Questionnaire on Cognitive Decline in the Elderly (IQCODE) or by pre-fracture diagnosis of dementia. The information registered in the quality databases was defined as the reference standard. Cognitive function in the Norwegian Hip Fracture Register was reported as: Chronic cognitive impairment? "Yes", "Uncertain" or "No" by the orthopaedic surgeons. Sensitivity, specificity, negative and positive predictive values for chronic cognitive impairment reported to the Norwegian Hip Fracture Register by the orthopaedic surgeons was calculated. Baseline data and treatment of hip fractures in patients with and without cognitive impairment in the Norwegian Hip Fracture Register were compared. RESULTS: Orthopaedic surgeons reported chronic cognitive impairment in 31% of the patients. Using documented dementia or IQCODE > 4.0 as the reference, this assessment of cognitive impairment by the orthopaedic surgeons had a sensitivity of 69%, a specificity of 90%, a positive predictive value of 78%, and a negative predictive value of 84% compared to information registered in the two hospital quality databases. There were no differences in type of hip fracture or type of surgical treatment by cognitive function. CONCLUSION: The treatment of hip fractures was similar in patients with chronic cognitive impairment and cognitively well-functioning patients. The surgeons had an acceptable ability to identify and report chronic cognitive impairment in the peri-operative period, indicating that the Norwegian Hip Fracture Register is a valuable resource for future registry-based research also on hip fracture patients with chronic cognitive impairment.

A novel geriatric assessment frailty score predicts 2-year mortality after transcatheter aortic valve implantation.

AIMS: Established surgical scores have limitations in delineating risk among candidates for transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI). Assessment of frailty might help to estimate the mortality risk and identify patients likely to benefit from treatment. The aim of the study was to develop a frailty score to guide the decision for TAVI. METHODS AND RESULTS: We conducted a prospective observational study in patients ≥70 years referred for TAVI during 2011-15. A Heart Team had declined the patients for open heart surgery due to high risk but accepted them for TAVI. Prior to the procedure, a geriatric assessment (GA) was performed. Based on this, an 8-element frailty score with a 0-9 (least frail-most frail) scale was developed. A total of 142 patients, 54% women, mean age 83 (standard deviation 4) years, with severe and symptomatic aortic stenosis were assessed. All-cause 2 year mortality was 11%. The novel GA frailty score predicted 2-year mortality in Cox analyses, also when adjusted for age, gender, and logistic EuroSCORE [hazard ratio (HR) 1.75, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.28-2.42, P < 0.001]. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis indicated that a GA frailty score cut-off at ≥4 predicted 2-year mortality with a specificity of 80% (95% CI: 73-86%) and a sensitivity of 60% (95% CI: 36-80%). The area under the curve was 0.81 (95% CI 0.71-0.90). CONCLUSION: A novel 8-element GA frailty score identified gradations in survival in patients declined for open heart surgery. Patients with higher GA frailty scores had significantly higher 2-year mortality after TAVI.

Assessment of recovery in older patients hospitalized with different diagnoses and functional levels, evaluated with and without geriatric assessment.

BACKGROUND: The objective of the present study was to investigate 1) the role of different admission diagnoses and 2) the degree of functional loss, on the rate of recovery of older patients after acute hospitalization. Furthermore, to compare the predictive value of simple assessments that can be carried out in a hospital lacking geriatric service, with assessments including geriatric screening tests. METHODS: Prospective, observational cohort study, including 961community dwelling patients aged ≥ 70 years, transferred from medical, cardiac, pulmonary and orthopedic acute hospital departments to intermediate care in nursing home. Functional assessment with Barthel index (BI) was performed at admission to the nursing home and further geriatric assessment tests was performed during the first week. Logistic regression models with and without geriatric assessment were compared concerning the patients having 1) slow recovery (nursing home stay up to 2 months before return home) or, 2) poor recovery (dead or still in nursing home at 2 months). RESULTS: Slow recovery was independently associated with a diagnosis of non-vertebral fracture, BI subgroups 50-79 and <50, and, in the model including geriatric assessment, also with cognitive impairment. Poor recovery was more complex, and independently associated both with BI < 50, receiving home care before admission, higher age, admission with a non-vertebral fracture, and in the geriatric assessment model, cognitive impairment. CONCLUSIONS: Geriatric assessment is optimal for determining the recovery potential of older patients after acute hospitalization. As some hospitals lack geriatric services and ability to perform geriatric screening tests, a simpler assessment based on admission diagnoses and ADL function (BI), gives good information regarding the possible rehabilitation time and possibility to return home.

New horizons in the implementation and research of comprehensive geriatric assessment: knowing, doing and the 'know-do' gap.

In this paper, we outline the relationship between the need to put existing applied health research knowledge into practice (the 'know-do gap') and the need to improve the evidence base (the 'know gap') with respect to the healthcare process used for older people with frailty known as comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA). We explore the reasons for the know-do gap and the principles of how these barriers to implementation might be overcome. We explore how these principles should affect the conduct of applied health research to close the know gap. We propose that impaired flow of knowledge is an important contributory factor in the failure to implement evidence-based practice in CGA; this could be addressed through specific knowledge mobilisation techniques. We describe that implementation failures are also produced by an inadequate evidence base that requires the co-production of research, addressing not only effectiveness but also the feasibility and acceptability of new services, the educational needs of practitioners, the organisational requirements of services, and the contribution made by policy. Only by tackling these issues in concert and appropriate proportion, will the know and know-do gaps for CGA be closed.

The last three days of life: a comparison of pain management in the young old and the oldest old hospitalised patients using the Resident Assessment Instrument for Palliative Care.

BACKGROUND: Pain is a common symptom in older patients at the end of life. Little research has evaluated pain management among the oldest hospitalised dying patients. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To compare the pain characteristics documented by healthcare workers for the young old and the oldest old hospitalised patients and the types of analgesics administered in the last three days of life. DESIGN: A retrospective cross-sectional comparative study. METHODS: The study included 190 patients from a Norwegian general hospital: 101 young old patients (aged 65-84 years) and 89 oldest old patients (aged 85-100 years). Data were extracted from electronic patient records (EPRs) using the Resident Assessment Instrument for Palliative Care. RESULTS: No significant differences were found between the young old and the oldest old patients with regard to pain characteristics. Pain intensity was poorly recorded in the EPRs. Most of the patients received adequate pain control. Morphine was the most frequently administered analgesic for dying patients. Compared to the oldest old patients, a greater proportion of the young old patients received paracetamol combined with codeine (OR = 3.25, 95% CI 1.02-10.40). CONCLUSIONS: There appeared to be no differences in healthcare workers' documentation of pain characteristics in young old and oldest old patients, but young old patients were more likely to receive paracetamol in combination with codeine. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: A limitation of the study is the retrospective design and that data were collected from a single hospital. Therefore, caution should be taken for interpretation of the results. The use of systematic patient-reported assessments in combination with feasible validated tools could contribute to more comprehensive documentation of pain intensity and improved pain control.

The nutritional strategy: four questions predict morbidity, mortality and health care costs.

BACKGROUND: Nutritional care for hospital in-patients is potentially important but challenging. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the association between nutritional status and clinical outcomes. METHODS: Eight prevalence surveys were performed at Haukeland University Hospital, Norway, during 2008-2009. In total 3279 patients were classified as being at nutritional risk or not according to the Nutritional Risk Screening (NRS 2002) tool. The initial four questions of NRS 2002 assess dietary intake, weight loss, body mass index (BMI) and illness severity. RESULTS: The overall prevalence of nutritional risk was 29%. Adjusted mean days for hospitalisation was 8.3 days for patients at nutritional risk and 5.0 days for patients not at risk (p < 0.001). In adjusted models, patients at nutritional risk had increased one-year mortality (OR 4.07, 95% CI 2.90-5.70), morbidity (OR 1.59, 95% CI 1.18-2.13), and were 1.24 (95% CI 1.16-1.32) times more likely to have had a new admission during the three previous years and the one subsequent year, compared to patients not at risk. A 'positive' response to the initial four questions was associated with increased risk of morbidity and mortality. Patients with a reduced dietary intake during the last weeks had OR 1.72 (95% CI 1.03-2.85) for one-year mortality. Patients with a positive answer on all the initial four questions had ten times increased risk for mortality the following year, OR 13.0 (95% CI 4.52-37.6). CONCLUSION: The four initial questions of the NRS 2002 robustly identify nutritional risk and were strong predictors of hospitalisation, morbidity and most importantly mortality among hospitalised patients. Thus, these simpler and short questions are robust indicators for subsequent poor outcomes.

The effect of coping on the burden in family carers of persons with dementia.

OBJECTIVES: This study explores the association between coping, measured by the extent of locus of control, and the burden of care on family carers of persons with dementia (PWD). METHOD: Two hundred thirty PWD living at home and their family carers were recruited from 20 Norwegian municipalities. The carers' burden was assessed by the Relatives' Stress Scale (RSS) and coping by the Locus of Control Behaviour Scale. The PWD were assessed by the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI-Q), the Physical Self-Maintenance Scale (PSMS), the Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) scale, and the Mini Mental Status Examination (MMSE). RESULTS: Locus of control (LoC) was found to be the most important factor associated with the burden on carers of PWD, even when we had controlled for the PWD variables, such as the NPI-Q score. The LoC and the carer's use of hours per day to assist the PWD were the only two variables the carers found that affected the extent of the burden. The NPI-Q was the most important variable in the PWD that affected the burden on the carers. CONCLUSION: Carers who believe that what happens to them is the consequence of their own actions are likely to be less burdened than carers not expecting to have control. This finding gives a possibility to identify carers with a high risk of burden.

Last three days of life in the hospital: a comparison of symptoms, signs and treatments in the young old and the oldest old patients using the Resident assessment instrument for palliative care.

BACKGROUND: Knowledge concerning the provision of end of life care to the oldest old hospitalised patients is deficient. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To analyse whether there were differences in registered nurses' documentation of the young old vs. the oldest old patients according to symptoms, clinical signs and treatment in the last 3 days of life. DESIGN: Data were collected retrospectively in a cross-sectional comparative study at a hospital between autumn 2007 and spring 2009. Methods. The study included 190 patients: 101 (65-84 years) and 89 (85+). Data were extracted from the patients' electronic records using the Resident Assessment Instrument for Palliative Care (RAI-PC). RESULTS: Falls (OR = 4.01, 95% CI 1.47-10.90) and peripheral oedema (OR = 2.74, 95% CI 1.06-7.11) were significantly more frequent documented in the oldest old patients compared with the young old patients. Delirium was recorded in 15.3% of all patients. CONCLUSION: With the exception of more falls and peripheral oedema in the oldest old patients, this study showed no differences in symptoms and treatment between the young old and the oldest old patients. Delirium was poorly documented compared to other studies. Implications for practice. The oldest old patients have a higher risk of falls in the final phase of life, and fall prevention should be considered.

Older hip fracture patients: three groups with different needs.

BACKGROUND: Norway, and particularly Oslo, has the highest reported incidence of hip fractures in the world. It is increasingly common to care for older hip fracture patients in orthogeriatric units where orthopaedic care is combined with interdisciplinary geriatric care. The characteristics and needs of older hip fracture patients are poorly described. The aim of this paper is to describe the characteristics of these patients in order to better understand their need for care and rehabilitation. METHODS: This is an observational study based on a quality register for all patients 65+ years in an orthogeriatric unit who are operated for a hip fracture. The unit covers 250,000 inhabitants in Oslo. Patient data were collected in the aim of quality control. The quality database includes demographic, medical, and functional data collected from routine assessment by the interdisciplinary team. RESULTS: From January 2007 to September 2009, 1010 patients, included 241 (24%) from long-term care institutions, were enrolled in the database. Mean age was 85.1 years (SD 7.1), 76% were female, and 83% had experienced an indoor fall. Chronic diseases were registered in 88%, and 38% of the community-dwelling patients had pre-fracture cognitive impairment defined as IQCODE-SF > 3.6. Complications were observed in 51% of the patients, of which the most common were a need for blood transfusion, delirium, and urinary tract infections. Post-operative orthopaedic infections were rare (3.1%). Patients from long-term care were older, (87 vs. 84 years, p < 0.001), more had American Society of Anaesthesiologists (ASA) score >/= 3 (67% vs. 48%, p < 0.001) and a higher number of chronic medical conditions (mean 2.2 vs. 1.6, p < 0.001). Among community-dwelling patients, those who had fallen indoors were older, more often female, had ASA score >/= 3, chronic medical conditions, impairment in pre-fracture ADL and cognitive function, and more complications during hospital stay. CONCLUSIONS: Older hip fracture patients in this orthogeriatric unit may be divided into three groups; patients who are relatively fit and have experienced outdoors falls (17%), frail community-dwelling patients who have fallen indoors (59%), and patients from long-term care institutions (24%). Different caring pathways are needed for these groups.