RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Frailty at the front door
JF Clinical Medicine
JO Clin Med
FD Royal College of Physicians
SP 377
OP 381
DO 10.7861/clinmedicine.15-4-377
VO 15
IS 4
A1 Zoe Wyrko
YR 2015
UL http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/15/4/377.abstract
AB Significant numbers of older people attending hospital can be considered to be frail or living with frailty. This is a multi-component syndrome with many manifestations that leads to poorer outcomes in terms of mortality, morbidity and institutionalisation. Recognition and management of frailty can be challenging, and requires a true multidisciplinary approach, but appropriate assessment and subsequent intervention have been proven to be beneficial. This article discusses the background to frailty, and a number of validated frailty scores which can be applied by non-specialists in the acute environment. It highlights other resources which are available to help with the management of this complex group of patients, and discusses potential local and national service developments in this area.