The Frailty Matters Project.

Preventing and managing frailty is a new area for many community practitioners; yet, frailty specific-education remains limited. This collaborative project aimed to understand and enhance the knowledge, confidence and capability of community nurses to manage frailty in a community setting. A person-centred coaching and educational programme was co-developed with community nurse participants to strengthen their leadership role in managing frailty within interprofessional teams. The "Frailty House" was created as an educational framework for the elements that participants described as important in order to live well with frailty, built on a foundation of leadership and coaching skills. Thematic content analysis of the data revealed the added value of combining technical knowledge and relational skills-building with peer support and coaching. All recognised the challenge of caring for people living with frailty at a difficult time and acknowledged that they would benefit hugely from further knowledge and skill development in this field.

Perceptions, practices and educational needs of community nurses to manage frailty.

Early intervention on frailty can help prevent or delay functional decline and onset of dependency. Community nurses encounter patients with frailty routinely and have opportunities to influence frailty trajectories for individuals and their carers. This study aimed to understand nurses' perceptions of frailty in a community setting and their needs for education on its assessment and management. Using an exploratory qualitative design we conducted focus groups in one Health Board in Scotland. Thematic content analysis of data was facilitated by NVivo© software. A total of 18 nurses described the meaning of frailty as vulnerability, loss and complex comorbidity and identified processes of caring for people with frailty. They identified existing educational needs necessary to support their current efforts to build capability through existing adversities. Our study indicates that current practice is largely reactive, influenced by professional judgement and intuition, with little systematic frailty-specific screening and assessment.