Assessing the reliability and feasibility of frailty screening tools among hospitalised older adults

Background The 29-item Frail-Physical, Psychological and Social (Frail-PPS) and the 14-item Frailty Assessment Measure (FAM) were developed in Singapore to identify risk of frailty among community dwelling older adults and validated for use among hospitalised older adults. Objectives This study aimed to establish the interrater reliability and feasibility of the two screening tools ‒ FAM and Frail-PPS, for assessing frailty among hospitalized older adults. Methods The FAM and Frail-PPS were administered during the initial nursing assessment by nurses to 62 patients aged 65 years and older within 24 h of admission. Interrater reliability, convergent validity and intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) were established. Feasibility was determined by the time of administration. Results ICCs for Frail-PPS and FAM were 0.95 and 0.95 respectively. A positive correlation was established (r = 0.97). The administration time for Frail-PPS averaged 6.7 min, and 3.3 min for FAM. Conclusions The FAM, with its high reliability and convergent validity, as well as shorter administration time, may be the preferred screening tool for use in acute care settings.