Network for End of Life Studies

TVN Implementing Frailty Portal

NELS_burge

Primary Care Application

For more than 20 years, Fred Burge has lead research projects that apply palliative care quality indicators and best practices to primary care.  This TVN project builds on his expertise by scaling-up the use of a frailty prortal.

 

TVN Implementing Frailty Portal

Project Title

Implementing the ‘Frailty Portal’ in Community Primary Care Practice: Evaluating feasibility, effects and expansion needs   

Time Period and Funding

2015-16, Technology Evaluation in the Elderly Network (TVN) National Centre of Excellence (NCE), TVN Improving Care for the Frail Elderly: Implementation Study, $221,937 (TVN + partner in-kind)             

Principal Investigator

Paige Moorhouse, Fred Burge, Tara Sampalli

Co-Investigators:

Lisa Bedford, Rick Gibson, Lynn Edwards, Grace Warner, Melissa Andrews, Deidre Taylor, Laurie Mallery, Minnie Downey

Project Staff:

Beverley Lawson, Research Associate

Stephanie Wood & Barbara O’Neill (financial), Administrative research co-ordinators

Caitlin Lees, HQP

Purpose

Assess the implementation feasibility and impact of the ‘Frailty Portal’ in identifying, raising awareness, care planning and delivery of appropriate care for the frail in community primary health care (PHC) practice.

The Frailty Portal was piloted in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 2014, and following modifications will be implemented in 2015 among a broader group of Nova Scotia PHC providers, along with cross-jurisdictional exploration in Fraser Health, British Columbia.

Methods

  • Identify factors influencing the implementation/feasibility of the ‘Frailty Portal’ program among frail patients, their family caregivers and PHC providers
  • Assess the impact of the ‘Frailty Portal’ on frail patients, their caregivers and PHC providers
  • Identify the core components required to successfully scale-up the initiative to a broader community of PHC providers within and across health jurisdictions.

Outputs

  • Factors influencing the feasibility of implementing the ‘Frailty Portal’
  • Impact of the Frailty Portal on targeted immediate outcomes
  • Core components necessary for successful scale-up