Examining Adherence Rates of Geriatric Consultation Team Recommendations

According to a new study, increased adherence rates for inpatient geriatric consultation team (IGCT) recommendations occurred when they were given to allied health professionals or when fewer recommendations are given.

“IGCTs provide recommendations for the care of older patients hospitalized on non-geriatric wards based on comprehensive geriatric assessment,” researchers wrote. “The lack of adherence to their recommendations hinders the potential impact of IGCTs.”

In order to evaluate and understand adherence to IGCT recommendations and determine which team and recommendation characteristics are linked to higher rates of adherence, the study authors conducted a multicenter observational study. They included older adults aged 75 years and older who were admitted to an acute non-geriatric ward.

In total, the study authors identified 278 patients for the study (51.4% male, mean age 82.5 years, and median length of stay 10 days), and there was a median number of three recommendations per patient.  

According to the findings, the overall adherence rate was found to be 69.7%. They found that the recommendations that were best adhered to were “social status” (82.4%) and “functional status/mobility” (73.3%). On the other hand, they found that the least adhered to recommendations were related to “medication” (53.2%) and “nutritional status” (59.1%).  

The study authors found that these rates of adherence increased if recommendations were given to allied health professionals (OR = 6.37, 95% CI = 1.15-35.35) or by more experienced IGCTs (OR = 1.34, 95% CI = 1.04-1.72). Further, these rates decreased if more recommendations were given (OR = 0.51, 95% CI = 0.33-0.80).

“Adherence rate to IGCT recommendations increased if given to allied health professionals or by more experienced IGCTs and when fewer recommendations were given,” they concluded. “Study replication in an international multicenter study with a larger number of centers and evaluating the quality of the recommendations is suggested.” 

—Julie Gould  

Reference:

Deschodt M, Jeuris A, Van Grootven B, et al. Adherence to recommendations of inpatient geriatric consultation teams: a multicenter observational study [published online ahead of print, 2020 Sep 25]. Eur Geriatr Med. 2020;10.1007/s41999-020-00397-w. doi:10.1007/s41999-020-00397-w