Frailty and Multimorbidity Flashcards
(25 cards)
What is frailty?
Frailty is defined as a syndrome of physiological decline in late life characterised by marked vulnerability to adverse health outcomes.
Is frailty common?
Yes, frailty is common, progressive, and expensive.
What are the risks associated with frailty?
Frail older adults have a higher risk of hospital admissions, care home admission, social care support, and are high users of healthcare systems.
How do frail older adults respond to stressors?
Frail older adults are less able to adapt to stressors such as acute illness or trauma than younger or non-frail older adults.
What are the symptoms of frailty?
Symptoms include weakness, fatigue, anorexia, undernutrition, and weight loss.
What are the signs of frailty?
Signs include physiologic changes marking increased risk, decreased muscle mass, balance and gait abnormalities, and severe deconditioning.
What adverse outcomes are associated with frailty?
Adverse outcomes include falls, injuries, acute illnesses, hospitalisation, disability, dependency, and death.
Can frailty be managed?
Yes, it is a condition we can help patients with.
What is important to remember about frailty and age?
It is important to not become ageist when making decisions regarding frailty.
How are pharmacists involved in frailty?
Polypharmacy (medication burden) - reduce medications
Nutrition - food supplements
Promote medication adherence
Monitor adverse effects e.g. falls risk
Work with MDT
Patient and carer education - raise awareness with frailty signs
Lifestyle advice
What are the most common symptoms in patients with severe frailty?
Constipation, delirium, and general weakness.
How should pain be assessed in patients with severe frailty?
Use the Abbey Pain Scale to assess pain and trial paracetamol.
How can constipation present in patients with severe frailty?
Constipation may present as overflow diarrhoea or poor appetite.
Lack of use of laxatives can result in hospital admissions.
What should be considered when prescribing medication to patients with severe frailty?
These patients are more susceptible to side effects from medication; apply risk vs benefit, especially when reviewing preventative medication.
What is a key strategy for managing medication in patients with severe frailty?
Reduce medication burden and prescribe anticipatory medication.
What is ‘healthy aging’?
‘Healthy aging’ reduces the risk of developing frailty.
Key components include good nutrition, staying physically active, not consuming too much alcohol, and remaining engaged in the local community to avoid loneliness.
What is the impact of COVID-19 on frailty?
COVID-19 has a significant impact on frailty.
What does morbidity refer to?
Morbidity refers to illness or disease and should not be confused with mortality.
What is co-morbidity?
Co-morbidity refers to multiple illnesses or diseases occurring in one person at the same time.
What is multi-morbidity?
Multi-morbidity refers to more than two illnesses or diseases occurring in the same person at the same time.
Multi-morbidity increases with age.
What is polypharmacy?
Polypharmacy refers to the use of multiple medications for multiple conditions, which also increases with age.
What should pharmacists consider regarding prescribed medication?
Pharmacists need to consider the impact of any prescribed medication on all conditions.
What is the aim of medication management?
The aim is to improve quality of life by promoting shared decisions based on what is important to each person regarding treatments, health priorities, lifestyle, and goals.
