Comprehensive geriatric assessments for long‐term and home care settings and digital platforms available to support their applicability: A systematic review

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundIntegrated care delivery is regarded as the most effective way of care provisioning to tackle challenges of dementia care, such as uncoordinated care, risk of hospitalizations, care planning and unmet needs. As Comprehensive Geriatric Assessments (CGAs) incorporate the key principles of integrated care, implementing CGAs in care practice might be highly relevant. However, this implementation should be supported by Digital Health Interventions in order to reach the full CGA capacity.Aims: To present the state‐of‐the‐art evidence on available CGAs for long‐term and home care, and digital platforms supporting the administration of CGAs.MethodsTwo search strategies were conducted in PubMed, CINAHL, and Web of Science. One focused on the validity and reliability of available CGAs for long‐term and home care settings, and the second search comprised digital platforms that support CGAs. Studies in English and Spanish and published up to July 30, 2020 were considered.ResultsA total of 73 studies reporting on the validity/reliability of 14 different CGAs, and five papers describing four digital platforms supporting CGAs were identified. Most of the CGAs covered a wide range of domains, evidence for good to excellent validity and reliability was reported for various instruments. Digital platforms showed some limitations and barriers regarding their usability and feasibility.ConclusionForemost, strong evidence of good to excellent validity and reliability was found for the Resident Assessment Instrument‐Minimum Data Set (RAI‐MDS) and subsequent updated instruments, similar results have been reported for multiple countries. For this reason, we recommend the use of its latest versions for long‐term care facilities and home care, the interRAI LTCF and interRAI HC. Regarding the digital platforms supporting CGAs, the inclusion of safe data storage, automatic notifications for assessment completion, individualized profile reports, automatic calculation of final outcomes, and facilitation of multidisciplinary assessments, were identified as key features to enhance their implementation. This project is part of the Marie Skłodowska Curie Actions Innovative Training Network H2020‐MSCA‐ITN, under grant agreement number 813196.