Are we measuring what matters to older people?

ABSTRACT

Comprehensive geriatric assessment is the core toolkit of geriatric medicine. Awareness of and engagement in comprehensive geriatric assessment are crucial competences for all professionals caring for older people living with frailty. The fundamental tenet of comprehensive geriatric assessment is person centredness, which means orienting problem evaluation and intervention plans around an individual's specific biopsychosocial situation to maximise their function and participation. Person-centred outcomes are frequently neglected from measurements of health-care delivery, service improvement, and research. Instead, systems tend to measure outcomes of the health-care service (ie, resource use) or a person's destination following a health-care process. The absence of person-centred outcome measures risks the delivery of health care that seeks to achieve, and is benchmarked against, outcomes that are not best for the patient. We must, therefore, ensure that the outcomes that matter to older people are being measured.