The Impact of Preoperative Frailty on Surgical Morbidity in Elective Surgery Patients: Opportunity for Intervention?
Abstract
Minimizing complications after surgery is important for patients and systemically
to minimize cost and health care utilization. Frailty represents physiologic reserve in patients. Designed to assess mortality and resource utilization in elderly populations, a correlation to post-operative complications in surgical patients is now known. Thus, frailty represents a more complete approach for prospective risk assessment. The number of metrics for assessment and varying definitions limit the widespread application of frailty assessment in patients, as does the paucity of data regarding how to intervene. We successfully implemented pre-operative frailty assessment across a healthcare system. We describe the presence of frailty across surgical populations, including all age groups and demonstrate an increase in post-operative morbidity and healthcare utilization for inpatient and outpatient elective surgery populations. A novel approach to improve pre-operative ambulation according to Health Promotions ideology is presented. Finally, future efforts to address frailty pre-operatively are presented.
Citation
Mrdutt, Mary Megan (2021). The Impact of Preoperative Frailty on Surgical Morbidity in Elective Surgery Patients: Opportunity for Intervention?. Master's thesis, Texas A&M University. Available electronically from https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /195072.