Nurses in the approach to frailty

Reflective analysis on the importance of nursing care in frail elderly

Abstract

At present, the definition of frailty provided by the World Health Organization (WHO), which incorporates the concepts of intrinsic capacity and functional capacity, as well as the increasing prevalence of these situations in elderly people, reflect the need to develop intervention strategies in the different health systems to prevent and address frailty. This article analyzes the implication of the nursing role, as well as its framework of action and specific competencies for the prevention and addressing of the health needs related to the frail elderly person.This role is developed through the systematic use of comprehensive assessment, existence of nursing diagnoses related to frailty and its risks and the interventions and outcome criteria related to the care of the frail elderly person. Specifically, this article expose the actions and competences of nurses who carry out their activity in primary care and in the community context, in care programs for the elderly and home care, which involve both the frail elderly person and the people who care for them.