Frailty and Occupational Therapy in the Emergency Department

Abstract

This paper details a health records review of older adults referred to an occupational therapy (OT) program in the emergency department (ED), examining this population’s prevalence of frailty, and the impact of frailty on unscheduled return visits (URVs) to the ED. Most patients seen by an occupational therapist in the ED were frail (60.6%). Of the patients discharged home on their index ED visit, 31.0% had a URV within 30 days. There was no significant difference in URV rate between frail and non-frail populations. Compared to non-frail patients, frail patients who had a URV demonstrated greater complexity in their reasons for URVs, with functional, social/environmental and/or safety concerns, and “failure to thrive”. Patients referred to OT in the ED were typically in the middle of the frailty scale (vulnerable to moderately frail), dependent in some of their activities of daily living, and had complex presentations to the ED.