Health Care : Current Reviews

EDMONTON FRAIL SCALE AS A STANDALONE RAPID GERIATRIC SCREENING TOOL IN THE EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT

13^th World Congress on Healthcare & Technologies

June 14-15, 2018 | Dublin, Ireland

Yvonne Gwendoline Tan, Sherill Ann Alvanez Palermo and Chik Loon Foo

Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: Health Care Current Reviews

Abstract:

Introduction: Frailty has been shown to predict adverse health outcomes in the geriatric population. The Edmonton frail scale (EFS) is a simple yet effective frailty screening tool. Administrable in five minutes, it assesses ten domains (cognition, balance, mobility, mood, function, medication use, social support, nutrition, continence and quality of life), and classifies patients into not frail, mildly frail, moderately frail and severely frail. Objectives: As majority of the components of EFS overlap with our existing rapid geriatric screening (RGS) tool in the emergency department (ED), we assessed the feasibility of using EFS as a standalone RGS tool. Methods: EFS was administered on all patients who completed RGS in the ED to analyze if they correlated with the number of geriatric problems found, the abbreviated mental test (AMT), basic activities of daily living (BADL) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) scores, and dispositions from ED. Findings: Out of the 229 patients recruited, 63.8% were female, and the median age was 78. A higher EFS was significantly associated with a higher number of geriatric unmet needs as well as lower AMT, BADL and IADL scores (all p<0.001). The cognition and functional components of EFS independently correlated with the RGSâ??s AMT, BADL/IADL scores respectively (all p<0.001). There was also significant association between EFS and dispositions. Conclusion: EFS is an ideal standalone tool when performing RGS in a busy ED. It identifies specific geriatric needs, correlates well with cognitive and functional statuses, and guides disposition. It provides an objective score useful during communication and risk stratification downstream.

Biography :

Yvonne Gwendoline Tan has completed her graduation from University of Sydney with Bachelor of Health Science (Nursing) and Advance Diploma in Emergency Nursing from Nanyang Polytechnic. Subsequently, she obtained her Master’s degree in Nursing from National University of Singapore specialized in Acute Care, followed by certification of Advanced Practice Nurse in Emergency. She is presently working at Tan Tock Seng Hospital Emergency Department as an Emergency Advanced Practice Nurse.
Email:yvonne_tan@ttsh.com.sg