Understanding frailty screening of older adults in the emergency department
Frailty in the Elderly: Early Detection in the ED Can Prevent Falls, Delirium & Improve Patient Outcomes!
Frailty is an aging-related syndrome of reduced function and physiologic reserve that increases a person's vulnerability to illness.1 Multiple models have aimed to standardize the definition of frailty, leading to variation in the way frailty is understood and approached clinically.2, 3 Frailty is associated with adverse outcomes in older adults including delirium, falls, prolonged hospital stay, return emergency department (ED) visits, and mortality.1 Early identification of frailty in the ED can help avoid undertriage, recognize care needs, implement adverse-event prevention strategies, trigger geriatric specialist consults, and connect with community resources.4, 5
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