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Background Advance care planning (ACP) is an ongoing conversation where healthcare professionals explore patients' and families' wishes in order to act within their best interests. The COVID19 pandemic continues to highlight the importance of timely ACP, namely while our patients have capacity. We noted that despite advancing age, accumulating co-morbidities and high clinical frailty scores (CFS); ACP discussions were not taking place within our elderly department. We aimed to increase ACP conversations and ensure documentation on ReSPECT forms to allow continuity within primary care. Methods 10 patients per ward were randomly selected. 69 patients met inclusion criteria (over 65 with CFS ≥5 or any patient with dementia). We reviewed electronic and paper records and defined evidence of ACP as ReSPECT form including preferred place of death (PPoD), or discussion with patient or relative in medical notes. We randomly selected a pilot ward and applied interventions over 4 weeks: • Small group teaching to junior doctors • Visiting ward MDTs to identify appropriate patients for ACP • Presenting baseline data to geriatricians • Visual aids from the palliative care team and prompt sheets for doctors. Results Prior to our interventions, 22% of our sample had evidence of advance care planning, 33% of discussions documented on ReSPECT form. Following our intervention period we reviewed medical notes on our pilot ward. 58% patients now had evidence of ACP, with 66% documented on a ReSPECT form. Conclusion We achieved a significant increase in advance care planning within our elderly medicine department, and are therefore better equipped to provide personalised care alongside our patients' wishes and values. Next steps: • Expanding teaching across the multi-disciplinary team • ACP 'champions' to highlight appropriate patients • Expansion of initial interventions across the department We hope to embed and maintain this change through education, training and inspiring others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Grip strength (GS) and the short physical performance battery (SPPB) have been shown to predict clinical outcomes in older adults with cancer. However, whether pre-treatment GS and SPPB impact treatment decisions following comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA) is poorly understood. Our objective was to assess the impact of low GS and/or SPPB on treatment modification to initially proposed treatment plans in older adults with cancer following CGA. Methods This was a retrospective cohort study of older adults who had undergone CGA before receiving cancer treatment. Data were retrieved from a prospective database in an academic cancer centre and medical records. Treatment modification following CGA was defined as reduced treatment intensity or transition from active treatment to supportive care. Multivariable logistic regression assessed the impact of pre-treatment GS and SPPB on treatment modification following CGA. Results In total, 515 older adults (mean age: 80.7y) who had undergone CGA prior to cancer treatment were included. Low muscle strength and/or physical performance was observed in 66.4% of participants. Treatment was modified in 49.5% of the cohort following CGA. Low GS and/or SPPB combined was predictive of treatment modification (OR = 1.77, 95%CI = 1.07–2.90, P  = 0.025) in multivariable analysis. Additional predictors of treatment modification included palliative treatment intent, comorbidities and malnutrition. Conclusions Low GS and/or SPPB combined prior to cancer treatment predicts treatment modification in older adults with cancer and may be useful in treatment decision-making. Management of poor muscle strength and physical performance should be offered to optimize patient care and potentially improve treatment outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective assess how many patients with low ambulatory diastolic blood pressure (DBP) are not identified when relying on office DBP alone, and thus have 'masked diastolic hypotension'. Design cross-sectional, retrospective cohort study. Setting academic hospital. Subjects 848 patients treated for hypertension who received ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM). Methods cut-off value between on- and off-target systolic blood pressure (SBP): 140 mmHg. Cut-off for low office and/or ambulatory DBP: DBP ≤ 70 mmHg. 'Masked diastolic hypotension' was defined as office DBP > 70 mmHg and mean ambulatory DBP ≤ 70 mmHg. Results mean age of the sample was 60 ± 13 years, 50% was female, 37% had diabetes, 42% preexisting cardiovascular disease (CVD), mean office blood pressure (BP) was 134/79 mmHg. In all patients (n  = 848), low office DBP was present in n  = 84(10%), while n  = 183(22%) had low ambulatory DBP. In all patients with normal-to-high office DBP (n  = 764), n  = 122(16%) had 'masked diastolic hypotension'. In this group, ambulatory DBP was 14–19 mmHg lower than office DBP. Patients with low ambulatory DBP were older, had more (cardiovascular) comorbidities, and used more (antihypertensive) drugs. Antihypertensive drugs were lowered or discontinued in 30% of all patients with 'masked diastolic hypotension' due to side effects. Conclusions 'masked diastolic hypotension' is common among patients treated for hypertension, particularly in older patients with CVD (e.g. coronary artery disease, diabetes), patient groups in which the European Society of Cardiology/Hypertension guideline advises to prevent low DBP. Although it remains to be examined at which BP levels the harms of low DBP outweigh the benefits of lowering SBP, our observations are aimed to increase awareness among physicians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Frailty complicates management and worsens outcomes. We assessed the prevalence, determinants and consequences of frailty among elderly patients in a hospital setting. Design Retrospective observational study in a Swiss university hospital. Methods 22,323 patients aged ≥65 years hospitalized between January 2009 and December 2017 at the internal medicine ward were included. Frailty was defined by the Hospital Frailty Risk Score (HFRS) and patients were categorized as low (HFRS<5), intermediate (HFRS 5–15) and high (HFRS>15) risk. Results Overall prevalence of intermediate and high risk of frailty was 43% and 20%, respectively; prevalence was higher in women and increased with age. Prevalence of high risk of frailty increased from 11.4% in 2009 to 31% in 2012, and decreased to 19.2% in 2017. After multivariable adjustment, frailty was associated with increased length of stay: average and (95% confidence interval) 11.9 (11.7–12.1), 15.6 (15.4–15.8) and 19.7 (19.3–20.1) days for low, intermediate and high risk, respectively, and increased likelihood of ICU stay: odds ratio (OR) and (95% CI) 1.57 (1.41–1.75) and 2.10 (1.82–2.42) for intermediate and high risk, respectively, p for trend <0.001. Frailty was associated with increased likelihood of hospital costs >70,000 CHF: OR and (95% CI) 3.46 (2.79–4.29) and 10.7 (8.47–13.6) for intermediate and high risk, respectively, p for trend <0.001, and with a lower likelihood of complete cost coverage: OR and (95% CI) 0.70 (0.65–0.76) and 0.52 (0.47–0.58) for intermediate and high risk, respectively, p for trend<0.001. Conclusions Frailty is a frequent condition among hospitalized patients and is associated with higher costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative disease. Delayed administration of PD medications is associated with increased risk of life-threatening complications including choking, aspiration pneumonia and neuroleptic malignant syndrome. In 2016, the spouse of a patient with PD wrote to Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust (LTHT) to highlight that multiple medication delays and omissions had occurred during his recent admission. In response, LTHT formed a PD quality improvement (QI) Collaborative of multidisciplinary members committed to ensuring timely PD medication administration. The faculty used Institute for Healthcare Improvement Model for Improvement QI methodology. Interventions were tested on pilot wards and the most successful were scaled up and spread across all 90 adult inpatient wards as an 'intervention bundle'. Between January 2016 and June 2020 mean delays in the time from admission to first dose of medication dropped from over 7 to under 1 h. The mean percentage of omitted PD medications reduced from 15.1 to 0.6%. Project success was multifactorial but due to: Simplicity of interventions. Multiprofessional ownership by frontline teams to make changes and take prompt action. The spouse of the patient taking a leading role in the Collaborative, bringing her unique personal insight and experience, which facilitated behavioural change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background findings from a recent qualitative study indicate that the perceived clinical relevance of computer-generated STOPP/START recommendations was a key factor affecting their implementation by physician prescribers caring for hospitalised older adults in the SENATOR trial. Aim to systematically evaluate the clinical relevance of these recommendations and to establish if clinical relevance significantly affected the implementation rate. Methods a pharmacist–physician pair retrospectively reviewed the case records for all SENATOR trial intervention patients at Cork University Hospital and assigned a degree of clinical relevance for each STOPP/START recommendation based on a previously validated six-point scale. The chi-square test was used to quantify the differences in prescriber implementation rates between recommendations of varying clinical relevance, with statistical significance set at P  < 0.05. Results in 204 intervention patients, the SENATOR software produced 925 STOPP/START recommendations. Nearly three quarters of recommendations were judged to be clinically relevant (73.6%); however, nearly half of these were deemed of 'possibly low relevance' (320/681; 47%). Recommendations deemed of higher clinical relevance were significantly more likely to be implemented than those of lower clinical relevance (P  < 0.05). Conclusions a large proportion (61%) of the computer-generated STOPP/START recommendations provided were of potential 'adverse significance', of 'no clinical relevance' or of 'possibly low relevance'. The adjudicated clinical relevance of computer-generated medication recommendations significantly affects their implementation. Meticulous software refinement is required for future interventions of this type to increase the proportion of recommendations that are of high clinical relevance. This should facilitate their implementation, resulting in prescribing optimisation and improved clinical outcomes for multimorbid older adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Care home residents are increasingly frail with complex health and social care needs. Their transfer to hospital at the end-of-life can be associated with unwanted interventions and distress. However, hospitals do enable provision of care that some residents wish to receive. We aimed to explore the factors that influence hospital admission of care home residents who then died in hospital. Methods This study combined in-depth case note review of care home residents dying in two Scottish teaching hospitals during a 6-month period and semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of 26 care home staff and two relatives. Results During the 6-month period, 109 care home residents died in hospital. Most admissions occurred out-of-hours (69%) and most were due to a sudden event or acute change in clinical condition (72%). Length of stay in hospital before death was short, with 42% of deaths occurring within 3 days. Anticipatory Care Planning (ACP) regarding hospital admission was documented in 44%. Care home staff wanted to care for residents who were dying; however, uncertain trajectories of decline, acute events, challenges of ACP, relationship with family and lack of external support impeded this. Conclusions Managing acute changes on the background of uncertain trajectories is challenging in care homes. Enhanced support is required to improve and embed ACP in care homes and to provide rapid, 24 hours-a-day support to manage difficult symptoms and acute changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background the Confusion Assessment Method (CAM) is commonly used to detect delirium. Although accurate when administered by trained researchers, its sensitivity is low when performed by nurses in clinical practice. We aimed to understand the perspectives of nurses who used the CAM on orthopaedic wards. Design qualitative focus group study. Setting two academic hospitals in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Participants forty-three nurses who worked on orthopaedic inpatient units and used the CAM daily participated in one of eight focus group sessions. Measurements structured focus groups explored nurses' perception of delirium and the use of the CAM. Each transcript was coded and sampling continued until theme saturation. Results the participants (84% female, mean age 40 years, mean years in practice 12.8) had mixed feelings about the CAM. Some nurses praised its simplicity, while others preferred a narrative description of the delirium episode. Only 35% recalled receiving training to administer the CAM. Across the groups, disorientation was inappropriately used to evaluate level of consciousness and inattention. Objective testing was reportedly rarely used for assessing inattention. Most nurses retrospectively completed the CAM at the end of their shift by extrapolating from earlier observations rather than formally administering the tool. Reported challenges included differentiating delirium from dementia, assessing non-verbal patients and those with language barriers, time constraints, discrepancy with physicians' assessments and pressure to diagnose delirium. Conclusion despite its widespread use, the CAM was poorly understood by orthopaedic nurses at two academic institutions. The CAM may be difficult to implement in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: older patients admitted to hospitals are at risk for hospital-acquired morbidity related to immobility. The aim of this study was to implement and evaluate an evidence-based intervention targeting staff to promote early mobilisation in older patients admitted to general medical inpatient units. Methods: the early mobilisation implementation intervention for staff was multi-component and tailored to local context at 14 academic hospitals in Ontario, Canada. The primary outcome was patient mobilisation. Secondary outcomes included length of stay (LOS), discharge destination, falls and functional status. The targeted patients were aged ≥ 65 years and admitted between January 2012 and December 2013. The intervention was evaluated over three time periods--pre-intervention, during and post-intervention using an interrupted time series design. Results: in total, 12,490 patients (mean age 80.0 years [standard deviation 8.36]) were included in the overall analysis. An increase in mobilisation was observed post-intervention, where significantly more patients were out of bed daily (intercept difference = 10.56%, 95% CI: [4.94, 16.18]; P < 0.001) post-intervention compared to pre-intervention. Hospital median LOS was significantly shorter during the intervention period (intercept difference = -3.45 days, 95% CI: [-6.67,-0.23], P = 0.0356) compared to pre-intervention. It continued to -decrease post-intervention with significantly fewer days in hospital (intercept difference= -6.1, 95% CI: [-11,-1.2]; P = 0.015) in the post-intervention period compared to pre-intervention. Conclusions: this is a large-scale study evaluating an implementation strategy for early mobilisation in older, general medical inpatients. The positive outcome of this simple intervention on an important functional goal of getting more patients out of bed is a striking success for improving care for hospitalised older patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: to analyse the clinical impact of a home-based Intermediate Care model in the Catalan health system, comparing it with usual bed-based care. Design: quasi-experimental longitudinal study. Setting: hospital Municipal de Badalona and El Carme Intermediate Care Hospital, Badalona, Catalonia, Spain. Participants: we included older patients with medical and orthopaedic disabling health crises in need of Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment (CGA) and rehabilitation. Methods: a CGA-based hospital-at-home Integrated Care Programme (acute care and rehabilitation) was compared with a propensity score matched cohort of contemporary patients attended by usual inpatient hospital care (acute care plus intermediate care hospitalisation), for the management of medical and orthopaedics processes. Main outcomes measures were: (a) Health crisis resolution (referral to primary care at the end of the intervention); (b) functional resolution: relative functional gain (functional gain/functional loss) ≥ 0.35; and (c) favourable crisis resolution (health + functional) = a + b. We compared between-groups outcomes using uni/multivariable logistic regression models. Results: clinical characteristics were similar between home-based and bed-based groups. Acute stay was shorter in home group: 6.1 (5.3-6.9) versus 11.2 (10.5-11.9) days, P < 0.001. The home-based scheme showed better results on functional resolution 79.1% (versus 75.2%), OR 1.62 (1.09-2.41) and on favourable crisis resolution 73.8% (versus 69.6%), OR 1.54 (1.06-2.22), with shorter length of intervention, with a reduction of -5.72 (-9.75 and -1.69) days. Conclusions: in our study, the extended CGA-based hospital-at-home programme was associated with shorter stay and favourable clinical outcomes. Future studies might test this intervention to the whole Catalan integrated care system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: to investigate how frailty and mobility impairment affect recovery of balance and mobility in acutely ill older patients. Design: secondary analysis of cohort study. Setting: general and geriatric medicine inpatient units, QEII Health Sciences Centre, Dalhousie University, Canada. Subjects: four hundred and nine older adults (mean age = 81 ± 7 standard deviation, 64% women). Methods: we constructed a frailty index based on a comprehensive geriatric assessment (FI-CGA), at baseline (2 weeks before admission; mean 0.31 ± 0.10), and on admission (mean 0.40 ± 0.10), and recorded Hierarchical Assessment of Balance and Mobility (HABAM) scores daily. Recovery was measured as the difference in HABAM scores between discharge and admission. Results: the odds of no or incomplete recovery increased by 1.06 (95% confidence interval: 1.01-1.11) for each 0.1 increment in the baseline FI-CGA. Recovery odds were similarly dependent on age, but independent of baseline HABAM scores. Recovery time was related to Day 1 HABAM scores, initial treatment response and change in the FI-CGA from baseline to admission (r = 0.35, P < 0.001). Recovery time was independent of age. Patients whose mobility improved within 48 h (n = 113; 28%) showed greater improvement and quicker recovery. Conclusions: frailer patients are at a greater risk of incomplete or lengthier recovery from impaired mobility and balance. Tracking mobility and balance might help providers, patients and families understand the course of acute illness in older adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: institutionalisation following acute hospital admission is common and yet poorly described, with policy documents advising against this transition. Objective: to characterise the individuals admitted to a care home on discharge from an acute hospital admission and to describe their assessment. Design and setting: a retrospective cohort study of people admitted to a single large Scottish teaching hospital. Subjects: 100 individuals admitted to the acute hospital from home and discharged to a care home. Methods: a single researcher extracted data from ward-based case notes. Results: people discharged to care homes were predominantly female (62%), widowed (52%) older adults (mean 83.6 years) who lived alone (67%). About 95% had a diagnosed cognitive disorder or evidence of cognitive impairment. One-third of cases of delirium were unrecognised. Hospital stays were long (median 78.5 days; range 14-231 days) and transfers between settings were common. Family request, dementia, mobility, falls risk and behavioural concerns were the commonest reasons for the decision to admit to a care home. About 55% were in the acute hospital when the decision for a care home was made and 44% of that group were discharged directly from the acute hospital. Conclusions: care home admission from hospital is common and yet there are no established standards to support best practice. Decisions should involve the whole multidisciplinary team in partnership with patients and families. Documentation of assessment in the case notes is variable. We advocate the development of interdisciplinary standards to support the assessment of this vulnerable and complex group of patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: the STOPP-START criteria were developed to detect potentially inappropriate prescribing (PIP) in older people. The reasons why multidisciplinary geriatric teams decide not to follow STOPP-START criteria have not been studied. Objective: to analyse compliance with the recommendations of the STOPP-START criteria in older inpatients. Design: ambispective, non-randomised study. Subjects setting: three hundred and eighty-eight consecutive patients aged 80 years or over admitted to the acute geriatric medicine unit of a University hospital. Methods: STOPP-START criteria were systematically used by a pharmacist to assess pre-admission treatments, and the multidisciplinary geriatric team decided what drugs were recommended after discharge. Two researches independently assessed how many STOPP-START recommendations were accepted by the team, and if they were not accepted, why. Results: two hundred and eighty-four PIPs were identified (0.8 per subject) according to STOPP criteria. Two hundred and forty-seven of these prescriptions (87.0%) were discontinued at discharge. STOPP recommendations were not accepted in 37 cases, mostly because the team considered other therapeutic priorities (lorazepam, n = 12; risperidone, n = 5; other, n = 18). Three hundred and ninety-seven PIPs were identified according to START criteria (1.1 per subject). START recommendations were not followed at discharge in 264 cases (66.5%). The most frequent reasons were as follows: severe disability (n = 90), the use of other effective treatments for the condition (n = 38) and high risk of severe adverse effects (n = 32). Not following START criteria was significantly associated with dependency for basic activities of daily living (ADLs) (odds ratio, OR: 0.66 for compliance with a recommendation; 0.49-0.89), dependency for instrumental ADLs (OR: 0.64; 0.48-0.85) or inability to walk (OR: 0.72; 0.54-0.98). Conclusions: potentially inappropriate drugs are usually discontinued, but many older hospitalised patients do not receive potentially recommended medications. More research on the reasons and consequences of this fact is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objective: in the UK, two-thirds of patients in general hospitals are older than 70, of whom half have dementia or delirium or both. Our objective was to explore doctors, nurses and allied health professionals' perceptions of their preparation to care for confused older patients on general hospital wards.Methods: using a quota sampling strategy across 11 medical, geriatric and orthopaedic wards in a British teaching hospital, we conducted 60 semi-structured interviews with doctors, nurses and allied healthcare professionals and analysed the data using the Consensual Qualitative Research approach.Results: there was consensus among participants that education, induction and in-service training left them inadequately prepared and under-confident to care for confused older patients. Many doctors reported initial assessments of confused older patients as difficult. They admitted inadequate knowledge of mental health disorders, including the diagnostic features of delirium and dementia. Handling agitation and aggression were considered top priorities for training, particularly for nurses. Multidisciplinary team meetings were highly valued but were reported as too infrequent. Participants valued specialist input but reported difficulties gaining such support. Communication with confused patients was regarded as particularly challenging, both in terms of patients making their needs known, and staff conveying information to patients. Participants reported emotional and behavioural responses including frustration, stress, empathy, avoidance and low job satisfaction.Conclusion: our findings indicate that a revision of training across healthcare professions in the UK is required, and that increased specialist support should be provided, so that the workforce is properly prepared to care for older patients with cognitive problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]