2015 Implementation Grants — Frailty Measures

In February of 2015, CFN offered funding through a competition focused on measuring the degree of frailty in the elderly.

Measurement of frailty in the elderly can be helpful in identifying the most appropriate type of care, and care setting, provided to elderly patients. It has also been suggested that early identification of frailty can inform patients, and both formal and informal caregivers, on therapeutic options and treatment decisions, including those for acute care, restorative care, advance care planning and appropriate end-of-life care.

Projects funded under this competition investigate the feasibility of operationalizing a frailty measure in one or more health care settings such as acute care, residential care and home care. Projects must evaluate whether the implementation of the frailty measure resulted in appropriate changes to the interventions/treatments elderly patients receive and their impact on patient-centred outcomes. Studies were conducted across multiple jurisdictions to demonstrate future scalability. In both competitions, a minimum of 25% of matching funding was required. Timeline: 12 months maximum from time of approval. Budget: $100,000 maximum per proposal.

Projects Funded

Twelve projects were funded, with first-time funding for over 20 Principal Investigators. For more details on any of the projects, please click on the project names below:

Implementing a Risk Screening Tool in Primary Care for Older Frail Adults (FRA 2015-B-19)

Principal Investigators:

Paul Stolee, PhD, MSc, MPA, BA — University of Waterloo

George Heckman, MD, MSc, FRCP(C) — University of Waterloo

Modeling changes in assessments to predict needs and guide care planning in home care (FRA 2015-B-07)

Principal Investigators:

Debra Sheets, PhD, MSN, RN, FAAN — University of Victoria

Stuart MacDonald, PhD — University of Victoria

The Jintronix technology to prevent functional decline in pre-frail/frail seniors consulting Emergency Departments (FRA 2015-B-14)

Principal Investigators:

Marie-Josée Sirois, OT, PhD — Université Laval/CHU de Québec

Mylène Aubertin-Leheudre, PhD — Université du Québec à Montréal

Raoul Daoust, MD, CSPQ, MSc — Hôpital du Sacré-Coeur de Montréal

Marcel Émond, MD, MSc — Université Laval

Implementing the ‘Frailty Portal’ in Community Primary Care Practice: Evaluating feasibility, effects and expansion needs (FRA 2015-B-17)

Principal Investigators:

Paige Moorhouse, MD, MPH, FRCPC — Nova Scotia Health Authority

Fred Burge, MD, MSc, FCFP — Dalhousie University

Tara Sampalli, PhD, MASc — Nova Scotia Health Authority

Frailty Assessment of Older Canadians Using Emergency Services with Tablet Technology (FRA 2015-B-09)

Principal Investigators:

Jacques Lee, MD, MSc, FRCPC — Sunnybrook Research Institute

Mark Chignell, PhD — University of Toronto

Marcel Émond, MD, MSc — Université Laval

Judah Goldstein, PhD — Dalhousie University

The essential frailty toolset (FRA 2015-B-11)

Principal Investigators:

Jonathan Afilalo, MD, MSc, FACC, FRCPC — Jewish General Hospital

Rakesh Arora, MD, MSC — University of Manitoba

Sandra Lauck, PhD, RN — University of British Columbia

Province-Wide Implementation of the Clinical Frailty Scale in an Electronic Medical Record System (eCritical) in Alberta (FRA 2015-B-20)

Principal Investigators:

Sean Bagshaw, MD, MSc, FRCPC  — University of Alberta

Darryl Rolfson, MD — University of Alberta

Henry Stelfox, BMSc, MD, PhD — University of Calgary

Dan Zuege, MD, MSc, FRCPC — University of Calgary

David Zygun, MD, FRCPC — University of Alberta

Incorporating a frailty dimension into LOCUS for seniors in a medical-psychiatry population (FRA 2015-B-05)

Principal Investigators:

Cara Vaccarino, MSW, MHA — Trillium Health Partners

Rose Geist, MD, FRCPC — Trillium Health Partners

Benoit Mulsant, MD, FRCPC — Trillium Health Partners

Identifying older patients at high risk of poor outcomes after joint replacement surgery (FRA 2015-B-06)

Principal Investigator:

Daniel McIsaac, MD, MPH, FRCPC — Ottawa Hospital Research Institute

New Approaches to Evaluating Frailty in Solid Organ Transplantation (FRA 2015-B-13)

Principal Investigator:

Lianne Singer, MD, FRCPC — University Health Network

Acute-Care Frailty Ladder (FRA 2015-B-16)

Principal Investigators:

Nancy Mayo, BSc, MSc, PhD — The Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre

José Morais, MD — The Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre

Cardiac Surgery among the Frail and Elderly Towards Optimal Decision Making (FRA 2015-B-22)

Principal Investigator:

Greg Hirsch, MD — Nova Scotia Health Authority

About the competition

A Guidance Document and Application Instructions were provided for potential applicants. A Pre-application Intent to Apply was required by March 23, 2015. Those projects that submitted this Intent were eligible to submit full Applications by April 27, 2015.