Application, knowledge and training needs regarding comprehensive geriatric assessment among geriatric practitioners in healthcare institutions: a cross-sectional study

There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

Abstract

Background

This study aimed to investigate the actual application, knowledge, and training needs of comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA) among geriatric practitioners in China.

Methods

A total of 225 geriatric practitioners attending the geriatric medicine or geriatric nursing training were recruited for this cross-sectional study. The questionnaire included demographics, healthcare institution characteristics, the actual application, knowledge, training needs, and barriers to CGA and geriatric syndromes (GS).

Results

Physicians and nurses were 57.3% and 42.7%, respectively. 71.1% were female, with a median age was 35 years. Almost two-thirds (140/225) of geriatric practitioners reported exposure to CGA in their clinical practice. The top five CGA evaluation items currently used were malnutrition risk (49.8%), fall risk (49.8%), activity of daily living (48.0%), pain (44.4%), and cognitive function (42.7%). Median knowledge scores for the management procedures of GS ranged from 2 to 6. Physicians identified medical insurance payment issues (29.5%) and a lack of systematic specialist knowledge and technology (21.7%) as the two biggest barriers to practicing geriatrics. Nurses cited a lack of systematic specialist knowledge and technology (52.1%) as the primary barrier. In addition, physicians and nurses exhibited significant differences in their knowledge of CGA-specific evaluation items and management procedures for GS (all P < 0.05). However, there were no significant differences in their training needs, except for polypharmacy.

Conclusions

The rate of CGA application at the individual level, as well as the overall knowledge among geriatric practitioners, was not adequate. Geriatric education and continuous training should be tailored to address the specific roles of physicians and nurses, as well as the practical knowledge reserves, barriers, and training needs they face.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12877-024-04964-9.

Related collections

Most cited references 35

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: found

Frailty in elderly people

Andrew B. Clegg, John Young, Steve Iliffe … (2013)

Frailty is the most problematic expression of population ageing. It is a state of vulnerability to poor resolution of homoeostasis after a stressor event and is a consequence of cumulative decline in many physiological systems during a lifetime. This cumulative decline depletes homoeostatic reserves until minor stressor events trigger disproportionate changes in health status. In landmark studies, investigators have developed valid models of frailty and these models have allowed epidemiological investigations that show the association between frailty and adverse health outcomes. We need to develop more efficient methods to detect frailty and measure its severity in routine clinical practice, especially methods that are useful for primary care. Such progress would greatly inform the appropriate selection of elderly people for invasive procedures or drug treatments and would be the basis for a shift in the care of frail elderly people towards more appropriate goal-directed care. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

0 comments Cited 1800 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia: 2019 Consensus Update on Sarcopenia Diagnosis and Treatment

Liang-Kung Chen, Jean Woo, Prasert Assantachai … (2020)

Clinical and research interest in sarcopenia has burgeoned internationally, Asia included. The Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia (AWGS) 2014 consensus defined sarcopenia as "age-related loss of muscle mass, plus low muscle strength, and/or low physical performance" and specified cutoffs for each diagnostic component; research in Asia consequently flourished, prompting this update. AWGS 2019 retains the previous definition of sarcopenia but revises the diagnostic algorithm, protocols, and some criteria: low muscle strength is defined as handgrip strength <28 kg for men and <18 kg for women; criteria for low physical performance are 6-m walk <1.0 m/s, Short Physical Performance Battery score ≤9, or 5-time chair stand test ≥12 seconds. AWGS 2019 retains the original cutoffs for height-adjusted muscle mass: dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, <7.0 kg/m2 in men and <5.4 kg/m2 in women; and bioimpedance, <7.0 kg/m2 in men and <5.7 kg/m2 in women. In addition, the AWGS 2019 update proposes separate algorithms for community vs hospital settings, which both begin by screening either calf circumference (<34 cm in men, <33 cm in women), SARC-F (≥4), or SARC-CalF (≥11), to facilitate earlier identification of people at risk for sarcopenia. Although skeletal muscle strength and mass are both still considered fundamental to a definitive clinical diagnosis, AWGS 2019 also introduces "possible sarcopenia," defined by either low muscle strength or low physical performance only, specifically for use in primary health care or community-based health promotion, to enable earlier lifestyle interventions. Although defining sarcopenia by body mass index-adjusted muscle mass instead of height-adjusted muscle mass may predict adverse outcomes better, more evidence is needed before changing current recommendations. Lifestyle interventions, especially exercise and nutritional supplementation, prevail as mainstays of treatment. Further research is needed to investigate potential long-term benefits of lifestyle interventions, nutritional supplements, or pharmacotherapy for sarcopenia in Asians.

0 comments Cited 1445 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: found

Is Open Access

Measuring population ageing: an analysis of the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017

Angela Y Chang, Vegard F. Skirbekk, Stefanos Tyrovolas … (2019)

Summary Background Traditional metrics for population health ageing tend not to differentiate between extending life expectancy and adding healthy years. A population ageing metric that reflects both longevity and health status, incorporates a comprehensive range of diseases, and allows for comparisons across countries and time is required to understand the progression of ageing and to inform policies. Methods Using the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2017, we developed a metric that reflects age-related morbidity and mortality at the population level. First, we identified a set of age-related diseases, defined as diseases with incidence rates among the adult population increasing quadratically with age, and measured their age-related burden, defined as the sum of disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) of these diseases among adults. Second, we estimated age-standardised age-related health burden across 195 countries between 1990 and 2017. Using global average 65-year-olds as the reference population, we calculated the equivalent age in terms of age-related disease burden for all countries. Third, we analysed how the changes in age-related burden during the study period relate to different factors with a decomposition analysis. Finally, we describe how countries with similar levels of overall age-related burden experience different onsets of ageing. We represent the uncertainty of our estimates by calculating uncertainty intervals (UI) from 1000 draw-level estimates for each disease, country, year, and age. Findings 92 diseases were identified as age related, accounting for 51·3% (95% UI 48·5–53·9) of all global burden among adults in 2017. Across the Socio-demographic Index (SDI), the rate of age-related burden ranged from 137·8 DALYs (128·9–148·3) per 1000 adults in high SDI countries to 265·9 DALYs (251·0–280·1) in low SDI countries. The equivalent age to average 65-year-olds globally spanned from 76·1 years (75·6–76·7) in Japan to 45·6 years (42·6–48·2) in Papua New Guinea. Age-standardised age-related disease rates have decreased over time across all SDI levels and regions between 1990 and 2017, mainly due to decreases in age-related case fatality and disease severity. Even among countries with similar age-standardised death rates, large differences in the onset and patterns of accumulating age-related burden exist. Interpretation The new metric facilitates the shift from thinking not just about chronological age but the health status and disease severity of ageing populations. Our findings could provide inputs into policymaking by identifying key drivers of variation in the ageing burden and resources required for addressing the burden. Funding National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health.

0 comments Cited 234 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

All references

Author and article information

Contributors

Xujiao Chen: lily197459@163.com

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): BMC Geriatr

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): BMC Geriatr

Title: BMC Geriatrics

Publisher: BioMed Central (London )

ISSN (Electronic): 1471-2318

Publication date (Electronic): 18 April 2024

Publication date PMC-release: 18 April 2024

Publication date Collection: 2024

Volume: 24

Electronic Location Identifier: 349

Affiliations

[1 ]Department of Geriatrics, Zhejiang Hospital, ( https://ror.org/02kzr5g33) No. 12 Lingyin Road, Hangzhou, 310013 Zhejiang Province P.R. China

[2 ]Department of Nursing, Zhejiang Hospital, ( https://ror.org/02kzr5g33) Hangzhou, China

Article

Publisher ID: 4964

DOI: 10.1186/s12877-024-04964-9

PMC ID: 11025239

PubMed ID: 38637724

SO-VID: 7edd8efe-3b71-4978-bd90-a54e6e99e4e2

License:

Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver ( http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.

History

Date received : 8 September 2023

Date accepted : 10 April 2024

Funding

Funded by: ‘3060’ Personnel Training Project from Zhejiang Hospital

Award ID: 20226027

Funded by: Zhejiang Medical Science and Technology Project

Award ID: 2018ZH001

Award ID: 2022ZH002

Funded by: the Major Social Welfare Project of Zhejiang Science and Technology Department

Award ID: 2023C03162

Funded by: FundRef http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100013115, Zhejiang Provincial Program for the Cultivation of High-Level Innovative Health Talents;

Award ID: 2022-1

Custom metadata

ScienceOpen disciplines: Geriatric medicine

Keywords: application,knowledge,training need,comprehensive geriatric assessment,geriatric syndrome

Data availability:

ScienceOpen disciplines: Geriatric medicine

Keywords: application, knowledge, training need, comprehensive geriatric assessment, geriatric syndrome

Application, knowledge and training needs regarding comprehensive geriatric assessment among geriatric practitioners in healthcare institutions: a cross-sectional study

Read this article at

Abstract

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Supplementary Information

Related collections

Cardiovascular Innovations and Applications

Most cited references 35

Frailty in elderly people

Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia: 2019 Consensus Update on Sarcopenia Diagnosis and Treatment

Measuring population ageing: an analysis of the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017

Author and article information

Contributors

Journal

Affiliations

Article

History

Funding

Categories

Custom metadata

Comments

Comment on this article

Similar content 151

Most referenced authors 623