Understanding Clinical Importance of Frailty and Designing a Frailty Assessment Tool in Acute Hospitals

Abstract

Introduction: Managing the acute admission of older patients is a challenge in hospitals. Frail older people represent a larger proportion of acute admissions. Length of inpatient stay, inpatient mortality and the 90-day readmission rate are significant in this group of patients. In order to reduce the risks of adverse outcomes, frailty should be screened using an appropriate assessment tool and these patients must receive a Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment (CGA).