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. 2022 May 13;12(5):1228.
doi: 10.3390/diagnostics12051228.

Frailty Network in an Acute Care Setting: The New Perspective for Frail Older People

Sara Salini  1 , Silvia Giovannini  2   3 , Marcello Covino  4   5 , Christian Barillaro  1 , Nicola Acampora  1 , Ester Manes Gravina  1 , Claudia Loreti  1 , Francesco Paolo Damiano  2 , Francesco Franceschi  4   5 , Andrea Russo  1
Affiliations

Frailty Network in an Acute Care Setting: The New Perspective for Frail Older People

Sara Salini et al. Diagnostics (Basel). .

Abstract

The incidence of elderly patients who come to the emergency room is progressively increasing. The specialization of the physician units might not be adequate for the evaluation of this complexity. The present study aimed to present a standard procedure, called 'The Geriatric Frailty Network', operating at the Policlinico Gemelli IRCCS Foundation, which is configured specifically for the level II assessment of frail elderly patients. This was a retrospective study in 1191 patients aged over 65, who were evaluated by the Geriatric Frailty Unit directly after emergency department admission for one year. All patients underwent multidimensional geriatric evaluation. Data were collected on demographics, co-morbidity, disease severity, and Clinical Frailty Scale. Among all patients, 723 were discharged directly from the emergency room with early identification of continuity of care path. Globally, 468 patients were hospitalized with an early assessment of frailty that facilitated the discharge process. The geriatric frailty network model aims to assist the emergency room and ward doctor in the prevention of the most common geriatric syndromes and reduce the number of incongruous hospitalizations.

Keywords: Emergency Department; Frailty Unit; discharge plan; multidimensional evaluation; older people.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Multidimensional Evaluation.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Day Hospital Geriatric Paths.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The Frailty Unit Experience.
Figure 4
Figure 4
The Geriatric Frailty Network: the discharge flow chart.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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