Not provided
Not provided
Not provided
Not provided
Not provided
Not provided
Not provided
Not provided
Not provided
Not provided
Not provided
Not provided
Not provided
Not provided
Not provided
Not provided
Not provided
Not provided
The investigators plan to implement a randomised controlled trial to examine the impact of domiciliary (home based) versus 'hub-based' Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment (CGA) on clinical and process outcomes among older adults referred to a community specialist team for older persons in the Mid-West region of Ireland. The population of interest is older adults who are discharged directly from the Emergency Department or referred urgently from their General Practitioner. The outcomes of interest focus on those that matter most to older adults as well as clinical and process measures of care.
CGA is defined as a "multidimensional interdisciplinary diagnostic process focused on determining a frail elderly person's medical, psychological and functional capability in order to develop a coordinated and integrated plan for treatment and long term follow up" (1). The CST hub in Limerick provides a rapid, single point of access to an outpatient specialist geriatrician and allied health professional assessment. The bulk of this therapy is delivered in each of the hubs. This is considered 'usual' or routine care for the purposes of this trial.
The intervention will consist of domiciliary multidisciplinary CGA and intervention including nursing, medical and allied health assessment and intervention for frail older adults over age 75 who are discharged from the ED, or referred urgently from their General Practitioner and referred to the CST in Limerick. The bulk of this intervention will be delivered in the patient's own home. Each participant will be required to attend the hub for their medical review where they will access specialist geriatric medical expertise. A domiciliary visit to the older person within 24-48 hours of referral from the ED or within 24-48 hours of triage of GP referral by a member of the multidisciplinary team will be carried out. This person will act as the case coordinator for the duration of the intervention. During this visit, there will be a detailed assessment of the older adult. The assessment will include but not be limited to a falls assessment, assessment of mobility and stairs, transfer, personal care, activities of daily living (ADLs), social supports, cognition, lying & standing blood pressures and nutritional assessment. Referrals will be made for domiciliary care to the appropriate healthcare professionals (nursing, OT, physiotherapy, dietetics etc) based on the findings of this holistic assessment. Interventions prescribed will be individualised based on patient needs. The investigators will use the template proposed by Ellis et al. (2017) to characterise the components of the CGA intervention.
The trial will assess the benefits of this domiciliary model of care on outcomes including the following: function, quality of life, patient satisfaction, primary and secondary healthcare use, nursing home admission, mortality and cost-effectiveness. Baseline measurement will be taken at their index visit with follow-up at six weeks and 6 months.
Not provided
Not provided
Not provided
Not provided
Not provided
| Label | Type | Description | Intervention Names |
|---|---|---|---|
| Domiciliary CGA | Experimental | The intervention will consist of domiciliary CGA including nursing, medical and allied health assessment and intervention for frail older adults over age 75 who are discharged the ED or referred urgently from their GP and referred to the CST in Limerick. The bulk of this intervention will be delivered in the patient's own home. Each participant will be required to attend the hub for their medical review where they will access specialist geriatric medical expertise. A domiciliary visit to the older person within 24-48 hours of referral from the ED or within 24-48 hours of triage of GP referral by a member of the multidisciplinary team. This person will act as the case coordinator. During this visit, there will be a detailed assessment of the older adult. Referrals will be made for domiciliary care to the appropriate healthcare professionals based on patient. The template proposed by Ellis et al. (2017) will be used to characterise the components of the CGA intervention. |
|
| Hub-based CGA | Active Comparator | The intervention will consist of CGA as defined above, including nursing, medical and allied health assessment and intervention for frail older adults over age 75 who are discharged the ED or referred urgently from their General Practitioner and referred to the CST in Limerick and will be seen in the Out-patient CST setting. |
|
| Name | Type | Description | Arm Group Labels | Other Names |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CGA | Other | CGA is defined as a "multidimensional interdisciplinary diagnostic process focused on determining a frail elderly person's medical, psychological and functional capability in order to develop a coordinated and integrated plan for treatment and long term follow up". |
| Measure | Description | Time Frame |
|---|---|---|
| Functional status | Barthel Index | Baseline |
| Functional status | Barthel Index | 6-weeks |
| Functional status | Barthel Index | 6-months |
| Functional status | Barthel Index | 12-months |
| Measure | Description | Time Frame |
|---|---|---|
| Unplanned ED revisit | Process measure for hospital data base | Baseline |
| Unplanned ED revisit | Process measure for hospital data base |
Not provided
Inclusion Criteria:
All of criteria 1-5 must be met
75 years and over
Evidence of frailty, scoring between 4 and 6 on the Rockwood Clinical Frailty Scale (pre-frail, mildly frail or moderately frail)
Resides within CHO 3 and the catchment area of the relevant ICPOP hub
Patient has been assessed in-person by the referrer
Patient has not had MDT input within the last three months (excluding OPTIMEND team)
And any one of criteria 6-10 must be met:
Fall within the last month unrelated to acute cardiac or neurological cause & no previous falls assessment
Increased dependency or increased carer burden in the last month
A deterioration in swallow in the last month including symptoms of recurrent chest infections, weight loss, coughing when eating/drinking, self-modifying diet secondary to difficulties
Adverse drug reaction within the last month excluding allergic reaction Referred from ED/AMU following review by consultant in Emergency Medicine, Acute Medicine, Geriatric Medicine, General Medicine or Frailty at the Front Door team
Exclusion Criteria:
Not provided
Not provided
Not provided
Not provided
Not provided
Not provided
Not provided
| Facility | Status | City | State | ZIP | Country | Contacts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Community Specialist Team Hub | Limerick | Munster | Ireland |
| PubMed Identifier | Type | Citation | Retractions |
|---|---|---|---|
| 41723376 | Derived | Larkin E, O'Shaughnessy I, Galvin R, Robinson K. Recruitment of older adults to clinical trials in the Emergency Department: A qualitative study with clinical trial stakeholders. BMC Med Res Methodol. 2026 Feb 21;26(1):69. doi: 10.1186/s12874-025-02749-1. |
Not provided
Not provided
Not provided
Not provided
Not provided
Not provided
Outcome assessor will be blinded to group allocation to reduce detection bias.
| 6-weeks |
| Unplanned ED revisit | Process measure for hospital data base | 6-months |
| Unplanned hospitalisation | Process measure for hospital data base | Baseline |
| Unplanned hospitalisation | Process measure for hospital data base | 6-weeks |
| Unplanned hospitalisation | Process measure for hospital data base | 6-months |
| Nursing Home admission | Process measure | 6-weeks |
| Nursing Home admission | Process measure | 6-months |
| Mortality | The number of participants who died following their index visit | 6-weeks |
| Mortality | The number of participants who died following their index visit | 6-months |
| Health related quality of life (HRQOL) | EuroQoL-5D-5L | Baseline |
| Health related quality of life (HRQOL) | EuroQoL-5D-5L | 6-weeks |
| Health related quality of life (HRQOL) | EuroQoL-5D-5L | 6-months |
| Patient satisfaction with care | Patient Assessment of Integrated Elderly Care Questionnaire | 6-weeks |
| Patient satisfaction with care | Patient Assessment of Integrated Elderly Care Questionnaire | 6-months |
| Primary healthcare use (outside of community specialist team for older persons) | Process measure | 6-weeks |
| Primary healthcare use (outside of community specialist team for older persons) | Process measure | 6-months |
| Number of healthcare professional encounters by the community specialist team for older persons | Process measure | 6-weeks |
| Number of healthcare professional encounters by the community specialist team for older persons | Process measure | 6-months |
| Unplanned ED revisit | Process measure for hospital data base | 12-months |
| Unplanned hospitalisation | Process measure for hospital data base | 12-months |
| Nursing Home admission | Process measure | 12-months |
| Mortality | The number of participants who died following their index visit | 12-months |
| Health related quality of life (HRQOL) | EuroQoL-5D-5L | 12-months |
| Primary healthcare use (outside of community specialist team for older persons) | Process measure | 12-months |
| ID | Term |
|---|---|
| D000073496 | Frailty |
| ID | Term |
|---|---|
| D010335 | Pathologic Processes |
| D013568 | Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms |
Not provided
Not provided