A systematic review of frailty education programs for health care professionals

Abstract

Objectives: To identify and examine the reported effectiveness of education programs for health professionals on frailty.

Methods: A systematic review was conducted of articles published up to June 2021, examining the evaluation of frailty training or education programs targeting health professionals/students. The participant demographics, program content and structure, effectiveness assessment methodology and outcomes, as well as participant feedback, were recorded with narrative synthesis of results.

Results: There were nine programs that have evaluated training of health professionals in frailty. These programs varied with respect to intensity, duration, and delivery modality, and targeted a range of health professionals and students. The programs were well-received and found to be effective in increasing frailty knowledge and self-perceived competence in frailty assessment. Common features of successful programs included having multidisciplinary participants, delivering a clinically tailored program and using flexible teaching modalities. Of note, many programs assessed self-perceived efficacy rather than objective changes in patient outcomes.

Conclusions: Despite increasing attention on frailty in clinical practice, this systematic review found that there continues to be limited reporting of frailty training programs.

Keywords: curriculum; education; frailty; interprofessional education; medical; teaching.