Advanced nurse practitioners can lead comprehensive geriatric assessment in acute hospitals
Intended for healthcare professionals
Evidence and practice    

Advanced nurse practitioners can lead comprehensive geriatric assessment in acute hospitals

Wendy Mashlan Lead advanced nurse practitioner, care of the elderly medicine, Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board, Bridgend, Wales
Sue Heffey Advanced nurse practitioner, care of the elderly medicine, Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board, Bridgend, Wales
Lauren Jones Trainee nurse practitioner, care of the elderly medicine, Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board, Bridgend, Wales

Why you should read this article:
  • To acknowledge the importance of identifying frailty in older people admitted to acute hospitals

  • To understand the principles of comprehensive geriatric assessment from a nursing perspective

  • To be aware of the contribution of advanced nurse practitioners to comprehensive assessment of older people living with frailty

With an increasingly ageing population comes a greater risk of frailty, a distinct health state in which multiple body systems gradually lose their inbuilt reserves. The ability to recognise important frailty markers and conduct specialist comprehensive assessments of potentially frail older people admitted to acute hospitals is important to improve their health and well-being.

This article explores the role of the advanced nurse practitioner (ANP) in identifying frailty and leading comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA) for older people admitted to acute hospital settings. A small evaluation of CGA led by an ANP in a district general hospital found that a well-rounded assessment of patients living with frailty could be carried out, and that such assessments reduced unscheduled readmission within 28 days of discharge and overall length of hospital stay by six days. In a challenging climate, in which healthcare services seek to deliver effective and efficient care to the frail older population, ANPs can ensure a timely and specialist approach to CGA.

Nursing Older People. doi: 10.7748/nop.2019.e1182

Peer review

This article has been subject to external double-blind peer review and has been checked for plagiarism using automated software

Correspondence

wendymashlan@yahoo.co.uk

Conflict of interest

None declared

Mashlan W, Heffey S, Jones L (2019) Advanced nurse practitioners can lead comprehensive geriatric assessment in acute hospitals. Nursing Older People. doi: 10.7748/nop.2019.e1182

Published online: 04 December 2019

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