Inpatient Nursing Frailty Assessment (INFA): Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment and multidisciplinary intervention for frail hospitalised older adults
Completed
Age Well SG strand: Strengthen support for seniors with care needs in the community
Co-principal Investigators: Dr Justin Chew Linghui (Deputy Director, Research & Innovation Lead, Institute of Geriatrics and Active Ageing and Senior Consultant, Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH)) & Dr Grace Sum Chi-En (Research Fellow, GERI)
Collaborating Organisation(s): TTSH, NHG Health
Gap: Older adults admitted to hospital wards under General Medicine and General Surgery may miss out on geriatric assessment. There is a need to incorporate systematic screening of geriatric syndromes in those wards. Additionally, there is a growing need to empower nurses to lead the screening and care of patients.
Solution: The INFA programme at TTSH aims to provide geriatric assessment and coordinate care for frail older persons during and after their hospital stay. The study team from GERI and TTSH conducted implementation research before and during the programme’s pilot at TTSH. Prior to implementation, the study team identified anticipated barriers and enablers to refine the programme and develop implementation strategies. During the pilot, implementation strategies and outcomes (adoption, implementation, sustainability, scalability) were assessed. Programme effectiveness was evaluated in areas such as function, quality of life, hospital readmission rates and use of healthcare services. Cost-effectiveness was also examined.
Anticipated Impact: Overall, this project contributes to building frailty-ready hospital services and informing scalability and sustainability within TTSH and to other hospitals. Research from the project was presented at the Singapore Health and Biomedical Congress 2025, where it clinched a Silver for the Singapore Young Investigator Award (Health Services Research). The team also presented at the 12th Asian Conference on Aging & Gerontology 2026 and the Singapore Conference on Ageing and Health 2026. The study protocol was published in BMC Geriatrics in Dec 2025, with upcoming journal publications planned.
Duration: Dec 2023 to Mar 2026