Frailty and Falls Implantable System for Prediction and Prevention
Fall PatientsFrailtyThe Falls Predictor Clinical Investigation is a research study that aims to investigate the value of an update (Falls Prediction RAMware) to an implantable cardiac monitoring device (The Reveal LINQ™) in predicting unexplained falls. The Reveal LINQ™ is an implantable cardiac monitoring system manufactured by Medtronic that has the ability to monitor heart rate, rhythm and activity and is preprogrammed to detect abnormalities. An R&D team at Medtronic has been collaborating with the study PI Prof Rose Anne Kenny on this project they are responsible for developing a software update for the Reveal LINQ™ that would enable the device to collect additional sensor data such as accelerometer (step count) and Posture change. The additional investigational fields along with the standard cardiac fields that are monitored may be useful in predicting or identifying physiological changes before a fall. The study will involve up to 30 patients, recruited and consented from recurrent non-accidental fallers referred to the Falls and Syncope Unit at St James's Hospital, Dublin.
Physical Function of Older Citizens During Municipality-based Rehabilitation
AgingRehabilitation10 moreWhen choosing outcomes to assess rehabilitation's effect or progress, it is essential to consider the constructs being measured and their value to the patient and the psychometric properties. Choosing an outcome that reflects all aspects of International Classification levels of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) is challenging, especially in heterogeneous groups. However, it is important to know the psychometric properties as this gives important knowledge on how to interpret results and, consequently, how this can inform the patient's care. The Short Musculoskeletal Function Assessment (SMFA) questionnaire can reflect differences in patients' functional status with a broad range of disorders, like for elderly citizens undergoing municipality-based rehabilitation. Nevertheless, since there is no golden standard to measure rehabilitation outcomes, construct validity needs to be established to investigate how scores of SMFA can be related to measures on all levels of ICF. Therefore, this study has three main objectives: To investigate how scores of the SMFA questionnaire are related to measures on different ICF levels To describe the characteristics of older citizens starting municipality-based rehabilitation on all ICF levels To investigate predictor variables of upper- and lower extremity strength
Protocol for Multi-site Evaluation of New Community-based Frailty Programme
FrailtyFrail Elderly Syndrome1 moreBackground: Frailty is increasing in prevalence internationally with population ageing. Frailty can be managed or even reversed through community-based interventions delivered by a multi-disciplinary team of professionals, but to varying degrees of effectiveness. However, many of the implementation insights of these care models are contextual, and may not be applicable in different cultural contexts. The Geriatric Service Hub (GSH) is a novel frailty care programme in Singapore, that includes key components of frailty care such as comprehensive geriatric assessments, care coordination and the assembly of a multidisciplinary team. The aim of this study is to gain insights on the factors influencing the implementation approaches adopted by five participating sites, and the effectiveness of the programme. Methods: We will adopt a mixed-methods approach that includes a qualitative evaluation among key stakeholders and participants taking part in the programme, through in depth-interviews and focus group discussions. The main topics covered includes factors that affected the development and implementation of each programme, operations and other contextual factors that influenced implementation outcomes. The quantitative evaluation (1) monitors each programme's care process through quality indicators, (2) a multiple-time point survey study to compare programme participants' pre- and post- outcomes on patient engagement (collaboRATE and 13-item Patient Activation Measure;PAM), healthcare experiences (Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and System Clinician and Group Survey Version 3.0; CG-CAHPS), health status and quality of life (Barthel Index of Activities of Daily Living, fall counts, the EuroQol questionnaire and the Control, Autonomy, Self-realization and Pleasure scale; CASP-19), impact on caregivers (Zarit Burden Interview) and societal costs (Client Service Receipt Inventory). (3) A retrospective cohort design to assess healthcare and cost utilisation between participants of the programme and a propensity score matched comparator group. Discussion: The GSH sites share a common goal to increasing accessibility of essential services to frail older adults, and providing comprehensive care. The results of this evaluation study will provide valuable evidence to the impact and effectiveness of the GSH, and inform to the design of similar programmes targeting frail older adults.
Assessing Frailty in Elderly Patients Who Have Ischemic Heart Disease
Frail ElderlyParticipants aged 80 years or over, who attend Castle Hill Hospital with either stable angina or an acute coronary syndrome will be invited to participate in the study. After induction into the study, these participants will be assessed for frailty and quality of life (QoL) using predetermined assessment tools. Quality of life (QoL) will be assessed using the standardised SF-12 questionnaire proforma. Frailty assessment will be based on the use of the Fried Frailty Phenotype criteria and the Edmonton Frailty Scale. Patients will be reassessed at 3,9 and 24 months for their clinical outcomes, repeat frailty assessment and quality of life.
Modified Frailty Index for Minimally Invasive Distal Pancreatectomy
Postoperative ComplicationThis study aims to investigate the difference in postoperative complications according to the modified Frailty Index (mFI) in patients who underwent minimally invasive distal pancreatectomy for pancreatic tumors at the Asan Medical Center's Department of Hepato-Biliary-Pancreatic Surgery from 2005 to 2019. It also seeks to confirm the utility of mFI as a predictive factor for postoperative complications in frail patients in the future.
CR: Developing an Intervention to Improve Acceptance of Referral in HF
Heart FailureFrailtyBackground: There are proven benefits to people with chronic heart failure (CHF) participating in a cardiac rehabilitation (CR) programme, however uptake remains disappointingly low. Admission to hospital presents a significant opportunity to offer CR referral to such a patient population. It is believed that up to 75% of patients with CHF show signs of frailty at discharge which might impact on the rate of patients' acceptance of referral to CR. Aim: To explore the impact of frailty on patient acceptance of referral to CR following admission to hospital with an episode of decompensated CHF. Methods and expected outcome: We will conduct an observational study assessing the relationship between frailty and acceptance of referral to CR in this patient population. It will also explore what factors impact that relationship including demographic factors, measures of self-care and patient activation measure (PAM).
Thermal Imaging in Old and Frail in the Community
Old Age; DebilityThis study aims to test whether infrared thermal imaging using a non-touch, non-ionising, thermal camera system is feasible and reliable as an independent technique for thermal comfort assessment in older people and frail older people living in a care home and with or without mild cognitive impairment.
Investigation of a Link Between Heart Rate Variability and Frailty in Geriatric Patients
FragilityThe aim of this study is the evaluation of differences in heart rate variability (both time- and frequency-domain) [a]: between frail and non-frail patients and [b] at the beginning and end of a geriatric therapy which included rehabilitation components. Moreover, the suitability of new camera-based technology with regard to measurement of vital signs (heart rate, heart rate variability, respiratory rate) will be evaluated.
A Study to Assess Frailty of Subjects During ZOSTER-006 and ZOSTER-022
Herpes ZosterAs part of the ZOSTER-006 and ZOSTER-022 pivotal trials of the HZ/su vaccine, all study participants completed quality of life (QoL) questionnaires. The only questionnaires encoded into the data base were those from participants who developed a suspected shingles episode during the study. The purpose of this study is to allow for the encoding and analysis of questionnaires for all subjects enrolled in ZOSTER-006 and ZOSTER-022. The aim is to assess the baseline frailty of subjects enrolled in these studies and to investigate whether this population is representative of the general population.
INSPIRE: Feasibility of a Community-based Integrated Care Model for Older Adults Living at Home...
FrailtyBackground: The care of older people, often suffering from multiple chronic health problems is complex. As a result, many home-dwelling older people receive long-term care by a large number of care providers often in various care settings, which are neither centralized nor coordinated, putting older people are at risk for fragmented care. To address the complex needs and overcome fragmentation of care, implementation of integrated care models has been recommended. Integrated care has been described as a person-centred model of care that is structured to support coordinated, pro-active care led by a multidisciplinary core team and a lead coordinator communicating and cooperating across and within health and social sectors. However, a systematic review and meta analysis published by our research team could not show convincing evidence regarding the beneficial impact of integrated care models on health and service outcomes. But our study highlighted that the majority of the studies included effectiveness outcomes only and lacked process and implementation outcomes hindering to determine whether the negative conclusions were due to intervention or implementation failure. Therefore, this indicates the need for effectiveness studies which include process evaluations, contextual analysis, and measuring proximal implementation outcomes to determine if, how and why community-based integrated care for frail older adults is successful in practice. To facilitate the uptake of integrated care in daily practice and overcome implementation issues, principles and methods from the field of implementation science should be incorporated into future research. In January 2018, the Canton Basel-Landschaft (BL) published a new legal framework to redesign care for home-dwelling older people in the canton. This legal framework mandates the reorganization of the Canton BL into larger care regions and the creation of an Information and Advice Center (IAC) in each of these care regions. The legislation mandates the IAC to be staffed with at least a nurse. Subsequently, the INSPIRE research team has been working together with the Canton and the care region of Leimental to help operationalize and evaluate a care model for the IAC. The overall INSPIRE project is a three-phase implementation science project which aims to develop, implement and evaluate an integrated care model for the IAC for home-dwelling older adults in Canton BL. Phase 1: consisted in the development of the community-based integrated care model. Phase 2: We will assess the feasibility of the community-based integrated model of care at the IAC in Leimental. Phase 3: we will evaluate the effectiveness of this intervention. The current study focuses in the phase 2. Aims: assess feasibility of recruitment to the IAC including external (e.g., strategies used to promote the IAC services) and internal processes (e.g., the number of visitors to the IAC; how clients heard of the IAC; among others); assess the adoption, acceptability, feasibility, and fidelity of the integrated care model at the IAC BPA in Leimental; explore perceptions of older adults and their caregivers, IAC staff, and external health and social care providers towards the implemented care model, and if adaptations are needed to the care model or the implementation strategies/process. Design: The feasibility study uses multiple methods. For aim 1, a descriptive study will be conducted to monitor the strategies used to promote the IAC and to assess which ones worked in getting older adults to reach out to the IAC. To address aims 2 and 3, a parallel convergent mixed methods observational design will be used, being the core aspect of this phase. A combination of administrative data, health record reviews, older adult and informal caregiver interviews, IAC staff meetings, and a questionnaire of community professional collaborators will be used to meet the aims of the feasibility study. Sample: For this study, multiple samples will be included to collect administrative data, implementation outcomes, and individual characteristics of consenting older adults who used the IAC services: external (people respondents to promotion strategies) and internal (all visitors to the IAC); older adults; frail older adults who receive a CGA and their informal caregivers; the IAC nurse and social worker; and community professionals who collaborate with the IAC in care coordination. Measurements & Outcomes: Engagement measures will be provided by the IAC Administration about all visitors to the IAC. Implementation outcomes will be captured from IAC staff; older adults visiting the IAC (or with home appointments) and their informal caregivers; and community healthcare collaborators using a combination of meeting logs, interviews, IAC health records, and a questionnaire. The estimation of time-driven activity-based cost will be captured by using information provided by the IAC staff.