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Geriatric assessment in frail older patients in the emergency department

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 October 2013

Cesáreo Fernández-Alonso  and
F Javier Martín-Sánchez
Cesáreo Fernández-Alonso*
Affiliation:
Emergency Department, Hospital Clínico San Carlos, Madrid, Spain
F Javier Martín-Sánchez
Affiliation:
Emergency Department, Hospital Clínico San Carlos, Madrid, Spain
*
Address for correspondence: Dr Cesáreo Fernández-Alonso, Servicio de Urgencias, Hospital Clínico San Carlos, Calle Profesor Martín-Lagos s/n, 28040 Madrid. Email: cesareofa@hotmail.com
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Summary

Emergency care of elderly patients is frequent and complex in the emergency department. Frail older patients have a high risk of poor short-term results following emergency care. There is no practical universal or standardized tool defining frailty. It must be systematically identified in older patients at risk using a screening test, and in those who are positive, a diagnostic scale of frailty or preferably a geriatric scale adapted to emergency care is carried out. An adapted geriatric assessment including brief scales related to clinical, mental, functional and social aspects has been proposed. There are currently no geriatric intervention models with sufficient evidence in frail older patients.

Keywords

frail older patientsgeriatric assessmentemergency department
Type
Review Article
Information
Reviews in Clinical Gerontology , Volume 23 , Issue 4 , November 2013 , pp. 275 - 282
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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