December 23, 2016 – Frailty Help

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Anchor lead: When frailty is factored in, surgery outcomes are better, Elizabeth Tracey reports

Frailty in an older person who needs surgery can be assessed and planned for by a multidisciplinary team, with a dramatic reduction in mortality, a recent study in JAMA Surgery found. Kevin Gerold, a critical care medicine expert at Johns Hopkins, comments.

Gerold: I thought this study was very interesting because it validated what many of us who work with frail patients have been observing. When you bring all the care providers together as a team, and spend some time to identify what the patient’s needs are, you get a better plan and you get better outcomes. :18

Gerold says families should take heed.

Gerold: The family member should ask for a meeting with all the care providers and identify a common plan, this study suggests that when you do that the patients will do better long term.  :11

People in this study who had a multidisciplinary assessment and plan experienced benefits that persisted for at least six months after surgery. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.