Frailty Screening in Geriatric Trauma: A Pilot Feasibility Study.

Area of Science:

• Geriatric Trauma Care
• Patient Outcomes Research
• Healthcare Implementation Science

Background:

• Frailty in older adult trauma patients is linked to poor outcomes and complications.
• Frailty screening can inform patient care but is not standard practice in trauma centers.
• Implementing frailty assessment presents implementation challenges.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the feasibility of implementing frailty screening for geriatric trauma patients.
• To evaluate the effect of frailty screening on palliative care consultation, complications, length of stay, and discharge disposition.

Main Methods:

• A 3-month prospective observational pilot feasibility study.
• Inclusion of geriatric trauma patients aged 65 years and older.
• Utilized the Trauma-Specific Frailty Index score within 24 hours of admission.

Main Results:

• No significant correlation found between frailty and palliative care, complications, length of stay, or discharge disposition.
• A significant negative relationship was observed between the Trauma-Specific Frailty Index and Injury Severity Scores.
• Fifty subjects were included in the analysis.

Conclusions:

• Frailty screening implementation is feasible for guiding older adult trauma care.
• Barriers to screening implementation need to be addressed for effective trauma team engagement.
• Larger sample size studies are needed to confirm the benefits of frailty screening in trauma care.