Social frailty: the importance of social and environmental factors in predicting frailty in older adults.

Frailty can have multifaceted contributors, including physical, psychological, social and environmental elements. There is a lack of clarity surrounding frailty as it lacks a universal common definition, multiple factors are attributed to frailty and no definitive assessment tool is available. The evidence suggests that there is a lack of research to indicate causal relationships between the various determinants of frailty in ageing individuals. This review discusses the important role that social and environmental factors play in predicting the risk of frailty in older adults, as well as discussing the various signs of frailty. Health professionals in primary and community care settings are well placed to prevent and identify social frailty in the persons they care for.

Frailty: a term with many meanings and a growing priority for community nurses.

The question of exactly what frailty is and what that may mean for patients is extremely complex. This is a very conceptual problem requiring a broad and long-term solution. It is not a disease or a condition that can be treated in isolation. Frailty is a collection of contributing factors that culminate in an individual being susceptible to poorer outcomes following health-care interventions and minor illness. The solution to such a complex problem lies in engaging and empowering staff to understand and champion frailty. Once better understood, it will be possible to educate and enable this workforce to recognise the signs of frailty, poor prognosis and patients requiring more specialised palliative care. Informing staff working within a health-care economy of this issue must be the first step in a shift towards managing patients with frailty more appropriately, and streaming their care towards the correct care pathways sooner. This article discusses what frailty is, what it may mean for patients, and attempts to expand on why the construct of frailty is a prevalent issue for community nurses. The link between frailty and mortality is discussed and how targeted appropriate advanced care planning may be used to address this demographic challenge.