A systematic review of frailty education programs for health care professionals.

Nicola Warren, Emily Gordon, Ella Pearson, Dan Siskind, Sarah N Hilmer, Christopher Etherton-Beer, Leila Shafiee Hanjani, Adrienne M Young, Natasha Reid, Ruth E Hubbard

Journal: Australasian journal on ageing 2022;41(4):e310-e319

PMID: 35801297

Free Full Text on PubMed Central View on PubMed

Abstract

OBJECTIVES

To identify and examine the reported effectiveness of education programs for health professionals on frailty.

METHODS

A systematic review was conducted of articles published up to June 2021, examining the evaluation of frailty training or education programs targeting health professionals/students. The participant demographics, program content and structure, effectiveness assessment methodology and outcomes, as well as participant feedback, were recorded with narrative synthesis of results.

RESULTS

There were nine programs that have evaluated training of health professionals in frailty. These programs varied with respect to intensity, duration, and delivery modality, and targeted a range of health professionals and students. The programs were well-received and found to be effective in increasing frailty knowledge and self-perceived competence in frailty assessment. Common features of successful programs included having multidisciplinary participants, delivering a clinically tailored program and using flexible teaching modalities. Of note, many programs assessed self-perceived efficacy rather than objective changes in patient outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS

Despite increasing attention on frailty in clinical practice, this systematic review found that there continues to be limited reporting of frailty training programs.

Address: Faculty of Medicine, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.; Metro South Health, Mental Health, Woolloongabba, Queensland, Australia.; Department of Geriatrics, Princess Alexandra Hospital, Woolloongabba, Queensland, Australia.; School of Biomedical Science, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.; Kolling Institute, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney and Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.; Centre for Health and Ageing, University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia.; Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, Herston, Queensland, Australia.

DOI: 10.1111/ajag.13096

Link outs

Free resources

Full Text Sources:

Subscription / membership required

Full Text Sources:

MeSH Terms: Humans, Frailty, Health Personnel, Curriculum, Feedback